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CDKtTCGHT DEPOSIT. 




I] ACity o f Orange Graven 

I . in 

The American District 



I V Gufi^ 



INCREASE IN LAND VALUES GUARANTEED. 

Land Values advance by leaps and bounds wherever the natural resources of 
a country warrant development and where development is taking place. 

We Wish to call the attention of each prospective purchaser to the means which 
the Tropical Development Company is employing to assure immediate and exten- 
sive development at McKinley, and hence early and large advances in the value of 
every acre of its fertile land; and, furthermore, the attractive and generous 
method by means of which every purchaser of our profit-sharing gold development 
bonds participates in the enormous profits sure to come both from the culti- 
vation of the 500 acres of the Manigua Orange Groves and from the increase in 
value of the numerous smaller private groves and tracts clustering around it. 

EXTENSIVE IMPROVEMENT CERTAIN. 

The Tropical Development Company takes the lead in this development, and 
by the establishment of the 500 acre Manigua Groves inaugurates the thorough 
cultivation which will shortly make the 5,200 acres of the McKinley Tract at once 
the center of a great fruit and vegetable section owned by Americans, developed 
by Americans, and settled by Americans, and, moreover, increases the value of 
the adjoining properties to the usual California valuation of from $250 to $500 
per acre unplanted, and from $1,000 to $1,500 per acre set in orange trees. 

Remember, the planting of the Manigua Orange Groves alone, which we 
have begun and guarantee to bring to bearing, assures at McKinley an immediate 
population of from 500 to 600 thrifty Americans (including the fruit growers 
and their families) who. will be engaged in working on the grove, besides the 
throngs who will flock to this center of American development. 

This Immense Property, one of the largest citrus groves in the world, on 
which the Company is spending thousands of dollars, wili prove beyond the 
shadow of a doubt, even to the most unobservant visitor, the great fertility of 
this favored section and is certain to increase many fold the value of every 
surrounding acre. Remember, we are actually bringing to the highest possible 
state of cultivation 10 per cent. (500 out of 5,200 acres — 200 acres being used 
for our numerous roads and drives) of the whole McKinley Tract and assuring 
the establishment of " a City of Orange Groves." 

EVERY BONDHOLDER DOUBLY A PARTNER. 

The Profit-sharing Gold Bonds of the Tropical Development Company which 
are issued on the 500 acres of the Manigua Orange Groves are in themselves a 
most profitable investment, allowing all purchasers to secure an interest in the 
Manigua Orange Groves far below the real value of this property. 

The Free Gift of land and city lots which go to early purchasers of these 
Bonds now selling at a discount permits early investors to become not only 
Bond holders in the Manigua Groves but also Property holders of McKinley at 
no additional cost and thus share not only in profits of the Manigua Orange 
Groves but also in the increase in land values of the surrounding lands which 
the establishment of this Grove will produce. 

This is positively the fairest real estate offer ever made and one which will, 
with scientific accuracy, fulfill the highest expectations of our investors. 

No Other Land Company makes any such offer as this ; not only to allot you 
land, but to assure by extensive improvements the increase in value of your 
property, and to make you a partner with it both in the profits from cultivation 
and the increase in the value of its lands. 

Do Not take more land than you can cultivate or pay to have cultivated. 

Remember, properly cultivated in any one of a dozen crops, such as oranges, 
coffee, cotton, winter vegetables or tobacco, these lands will yield from $500 
to $1,000 per acre annually. 

Remember, for every ten acres we allot as a bonus we bring one acre to a 
high state of cultivation. 



PROSPECTUS 



OF THE 



Tropical Development Company 

Incorporated under the Laws of the State of New York 
Registered under the Laws of the Republic of Cuba 

Authorized Capital $ioo,ooo.oo 
Founders of the American City and Colony of 

McKlNLEY 

ISLE OF PINES 

And Developers of the 
Manigua Orange and Grape Fruit Groves 



OFFICES 

17 West Swan Street, Buffalo, N. Y. 

and 
McKinley, Isle of Pines, Republic of Cuba 



THE FIDELITY TRUST COMPANY, BUFFALO, N. Y 
Trustee and Registrar of Bonds 

BANK OF BUFFALO, BUFFALO, N. Y. 

AND 

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA, HAVANA, CUBA 

Authorized Depositories 



COOT-RIGHT, 1904 BY 

REE3E P. RI8LEY AND HOWARD S. RISLEY 



"The greatest blessing which can come to Cuba is the restoration of her agricultural 
and industrial prosperity." — President McKinley's Message to Congress, Dec. 5, i8gg. 



LIBRARY of CONQRESsI 
Two Copies Received I 

NOV 2 I9U4 

-GpDyrignt tntry 
CLASS A., XXc. No: 

/ o o _ 

COPY 



&y XXC. Nl 







■M : K l !\'LE v 



i *»"K l B„„ a 



STATUE OF PRESIDENT MC KINLEY, RECENTLY ERECTED AT NORTH ADAMS, MASS. 

A SIMILAR STATUE IS TO BE ERECTED ON THE PLAZA OF MC KINLEY, 

ISLE OF PINES. (SEE PAGE 54.) 



V 



^ 



.^ 



OFFICERS 

HORACE P. HAYES, President 

JAMES A. HILL, Vice-President 

FREDERIK A. FERNALD. Treasurer 

MARC W. COMSTOCK, Secretary 



& 



LAND COMMISSIONERS 



REESE P. RISLEY and HOWARD S. RISLEY 



ENGINEERS 

WILLIAM PIERSON JUDSON, M. Am. Soc. C. E., Consulting Engineer 
Deputy State Engineer of New York 

L. C. GILTNER, C. E., Resident Engineer 



DIRECTORS 



Buffalo, N. Y. 



Buffalo, N, Y. 



Buffalo, N. Y. 



JOHN M. HULL, Chicago and Perry Streets . 

Vice-President of the Ruger Manufacturing Company 
Former County Attorney 

Hon. ERASTUS C. KNIGHT. City Hall . 
Mayor of Buffalo 
President of the E. C. & G. L. Knight Co., Coal 

Hon. HENRY H. PERSONS, 332 Ellicott Street 

Vice-President of the Frontier Telephone Company 
President of the Bank of East Aurora, N. Y. 
Former State Senator, New York 

HORACE P. HAYES McKinley, Isle of Pines 

Wholesale and Retail Drugs, Buffalo, N. Y. 
Proprietor of the Atholmere Farms, Erie Co., N. Y. 

JAMES A. HILL, 44-60 East Twenty-third Street 
J. A. Hill & Company 
Publishers of the Encyclopedia Britannica 
Warner Library of the World's Best Literature, etc. 
Director of The Mount Vernon Trust Company 

FREDERIK A. FERNALD, 17 West Swan Street . 

Treasurer of the Tropical Development Company 

Former proprietor of the Columbia and New York University Book Stores 

MARC W. COMSTOCK, 39 Erie Street Buffalo, N. Y. 

Hull & Comstock, Attorneys 



New York, N. Y. 



Buffalo, N. Y. 



COUNSEL 

HULL & COMSTOCK, 39 Erie Street, Buffalo, N. Y. 
CONANT & WRIGHT, Mercaderes 4, Havana, Cui;a 




o 



"Two things are necessary for the industrial development of Cuba — immigration and 
capital." — Victor S. Clark, Ph. D., U. S. Government Report. 




WINTER RESIDENCE IN THE ISLE OF PINES OWNED BY AN AMERICAN PHYSICIAN, 
AS IS ALSO AN EXTENSIVE ORANGE GROVE ADJOINING IT 



THE AMERICAN DISTRICT OF CUBA 



The Tropical Development Company, has been organized by 
Americans interested in the cultivation of citrus fruits and other trop- 
ical products in the Isle of Pines. 

Its Purpose is to systematize and stimulate the work of coloniza- 
tion and improvement already inaugurated by the numerous American 
population of the Island. 

Knowing, as we do, the vast natural resources of the Isle of Pines, 
its agricultural, mineral and timber wealth, and familiar as we are 
with its beautiful scenery, healthful climate and delightful situation, 
we have selected one of the finest tracts of land on the Island with 
a view toward establishing thereon an American Colony in the midst 
of orange groves, pineapple fields, coffee estates and tobacco planta- 
tions, founded upon the broad business policy and liberal terms which 
only ample capital and experience could provide and execute. 

The Individual Efforts of our own directors and others interested 
in the Isle of Pines have done a great deal toward transforming it from 
what it was five years ago to what it is to-day, but there is room for 
much further development. While it is true that thousands of orange 

5 



"The Island has opportunities for success and wealth through safe and profitable invest- 
ments, the equal of which can be found in no other place." — U. S. Consul Hyatt. 




HOME OF AN AMERICAN SETTLER AT THE FOOT OF A MOUNTAIN IN THE ISLE OF PINES 

and grape fruit trees, standing in rows like regiments of sturdy 
soldiery, prove that the American pioneer has been at work and while 
neatly painted houses with vine clad porches and American made 
wagons drawn by American bred mules are taking the place of the 
native shack and ponderous ox-cart; yet, nevertheless, it must be 
remembered that the surface of the Island has barely been scratched, 
agriculturally speaking, and that the American settlers should not 
pause to rest until the Isle of Pines is shipping her two million boxes 
of oranges a year and other products in proportion, which she can 
easily do. 

Furthermore, there are railroads to be built, telegraph, telephone 
and cable lines to be laid, (unless Signor Marconi's services can be 
enlisted) electric light and water works to be installed, valuable forests 
of hard wood and building timber to be felled, marble deposits of 
superior quality to be quarried ; and, finally, schools and churches to 
be founded for the good of ourselves and those who are to come 
after us. 

Hence, we take this means of inviting those who may be looking 
for what our Island has to offer to investigate its opportunities. Con- 
trast its soil, climate and location with any other locality on earth, 
and then let us tell you about our Gold Bond Plan and Free Land 

6 



''American capital and ideas of business organization have suddenly become pre- 
dominant." — Victor S. Clark, Ph. D., U. S. Government Report. 




PRESIDENT HAYES, OF THE TROPICAL DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, IN A TWO-YEAR-OLD 
ORANGE GROVE IN THE ISLE OF PINES 

Allotment and the Big Orange and Grape Fruit Groves, and how all 

of these things shall be made to work together for the good of those 
who decide wisely and act promptly. 



WHAT PROMINENT AMERICANS THINK OF THE ISLE OF 

PINES 

McKINLEY, the new American city and colony which the Trop- 
ical Development Company is founding, is situated in the 
northwestern part of the fertile Isle of Pines, sixty miles south of the 
nearest sea-port of Cuba and only ninety miles from Havana in a 
region of perpetual summer. 

The Isle of Pines is surrounded by the waters of the Caribbean 
Sea and is swept by ocean breezes continuously. The northeast trade- 
winds which blow across the Island with an average velocity of 
seven and one-half miles an hour throughout the year render the 
nights cool and comfortable in both summer and winter. 

Frost never blights the orange groves nor injures the early 
vegetables of the Isle of Pines, as so often happens in Florida, because 
the thermometer never falls below fifty degrees even in mid-winter. 

General Nelson A. Miles was so charmed with the scenery and 

7 



LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 
HABANA, CUBA. 



Subject : 

ISLAND OF PINES, January 14, 1904. 

Healthfulness and 

Mineral Springs. 

Marc W. Comstock, 

39 Erie Street, 

Buffalo, N. Y. 
Sir: 

Replying to your favor of December 29th, I beg to 
say that the Island of Pines has a very good reputation 
for healthfulness, especially for sufferers from throat 
and lung affections. It is high and the climate is 
exceptionally mild and is swept by breezes from the 
Caribbean. The mineral springs are reputed to possess 
very good curative qualities, being especially good for 
stomach troubles .*** Personally I think enough of the 
healthfulness of the place to send my own family there; 
Mrs. Squiers and my daughter are now preparing for a two 
week's sojourn there .-* * * 

Very sincerely yours. 



~F7-^)puJ^, 



"The climate [of the Isle of Pines] is drier and better than that of the main island 
[Cuba]." — General Robert P. Porter. 




A CHARACTERISTIC BIT OF LANDSCAPE — MOUNTAINS IN THE DISTANCE, ROYAL PALMS 
IN THE FOREGROUND AND AN AMERICAN FARM WAGON ON THE LEFT 

climate of the Isle of Pines that he exclaimed after visiting its hos- 
pitable shores : 

"It is a new Eden !" 

Hon. Herbert G. Squiers, U. S. Minister to the Republic of Cuba, 
thinks so highly of the climate of the Isle of Pines that he sends his 
wife and family there in summer from Havana to drink the waters 
of the famous magnesia spring-s. (See letter on opposite page.) 

C. Willard Hayes of the United States Geological Survey, says 
in the U. S. Government Report on the Isle of Pines : 

"It is also destined to become an important health resort, and all 
conditions of climate, vegetation and scenery combine to render it 
attractive both to invalids and others who wish to escape the severe 
northern winters." 

Dr. E. W. Kellogg, a retired physician of Hartford, Conn., now 
a resident and orange grower of the Isle of Pines, says that contagious 
diseases are unknown in the Island and that the health of the Amer- 
ican settlers is excellent. 

In short, the reputation which the Isle of Pines has enjoyed 
among the Cubans as a health resort for a hundred years is borne out 
by the testimony of prominent American physicians and officials and 
residents of the Island, as will appear on the pages of this publication. 



BANANAS 

Bananas: 340 plants per acre, seventy-five per cent., or 255 
plants, yield a "count bunch" each, eighteen months after plant- 
ing, or 255 "count bunches ;" average wholesale price in the Isle 
of Pines, forty cents per bunch, or $102 per acre profit. 



Extract from "Commercial Cuba in 1903," published by the 
U. S. Department of Commerce and Labor, August, 1903 : 

"The banana shipments from Cuba to the United States, as 
all are aware, are extensive, and they have been so even in the 
years of Cuba's greatest depression ; but since the war they have 
largely increased. 

"More than $550,000 worth of bananas were shipped from the 
Island, principally to the United States, in 1901, as compared with 
only $115,000 in 1897; and the shipments of 1902 and 1903 show 
still further increases." 



Extract from the U. S. Government Report on the Isle of 
Pines : 

"Banana ( plantano) . — Many varieties of this well-known fruit 
exist and take the place of bread in all country (native) families, 
being eaten raw or cooked in many different ways." 



Extract from the writings of Baron Humboldt, geographer, 
scientist and naturalist: 

"The banana produces 44 times as much as the potato, and 
130 times as much as wheat." 



Extract from the writings of E. L. Peritara, a tropical expert : 

"The chief crops of the United States in 1897 showed an 
average value per acre of $8.26, while the average value of 
bananas grown in the West Indies and Central America was 13% 
times as much, or $111.67 P er acre." 



10 




352 



BANANA. 
% Natural-size. 



COPYRIGHT 1900, BV 
W. MUMFOB0, CHICAGO. 



"Cuba has immense possibilities in her sugar, tobacco, coffee, fruits, vegetables and 
mines." — Governor-General Leonard Wood. 




A FORTY-ACRE TRACT READY TO BE PLANTED IN ORANGE TREES. NO IRRIGATION 
DITCHES ARE NECESSARY AS IN CALIFORNIA 

VALUE OF AN ACRE OF LAND IN THE ISLE OF PINES 

Not only is the Isle of Pines attractive as a winter and health 
resort and permanent place of residence, but the fertility of its soil 
gives it agricultural advantages which are fast making it famous as 
a field for the cultivation of citrus fruits and early vegetables. 

Every acre of tillable land in the Isle of Pines is, in our opinion, 
worth $100 as it is to-day. Cultivated (in oranges, for instance) it is 
worth $i,oco. 

These assertions seem broad but they are not the less true. 

Every acre of good, citrus fruit land in the Isle of Pines will yield 
from $300 to $500 yearly. Call the average $250 and you have twenty- 
five per cent, profit on $1,000 valuation — that is, of course, on the sup- 
position that your land and planting cost you $1,000 per acre. Cali- 
fornia orange groves pay these returns and are sold at these prices 
in spite of their draw-backs which don't exist in the Isle of Pines. 

Mr. William E. Mason, a prominent business man of New York, 
who owns a private residential estate in the Isle of Pines, says : 

"I would not take $100 an acre for my tract in the Isle of Pines, 
if I could not duplicate it." 

And there are plenty of other American residents who value their 
properties at twice this figure. 

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"In climate, soil and all that is necessary to the farmer's happiness, Cuba is as well 
favored as any country or section of country in the world." — Collier's Weekly. 




I 



-*• » 




THE PIER AND RAILROAD STATION AT BATABANO, CUBA. FRUIT AND PRODUCE 

FROM THE ISLE OF PINES ARE TRANSFERRED HERE TO THE CARS OF 

THE UNITED RAILWAYS OF HAVANA EN ROUTE NORTH. 



PROXIMITY TO MARKETS 

The Isle of Pines is only 1,307 miles from New York, which is 
about as far as the distance from New York to St. Paul. There are 
two large fast passenger and freight steamers a week between New 
York and Havana, also a fortnightly steamer to New York, and 
weekly express steamers between New Orleans, Mobile and Havana. 
There is, moreover, close rail connection twice a week by steamer 
between Havana and Miami and three steamers weekly to Port Tampa 
affording also a mail service five days a week between Havana and the 
United States. Therefore the great cities of New York, Boston, Phila- 
delphia, Chicago, St. Louis, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Milwau- 
kee, etc., are easily reached. 

Only sixty miles of water separates the Isle of Pines from Bata- 
bano, Cuba. From Nueva Gerona, the principal port in the Isle 
of Pines to Batabano, Cuba, the trip is made in five hours across a 
sea as smooth as Long Island Sound. From Batabano a railway train 
completes the trip to Havana crossing Cuba at a point where it is 
only thirty miles wide. From Havana an express steamer will trans- 
port passengers and freight to New York in three days. 

Thus the winter grown fruits and vegetables of the Isle of Pines 

13 



"Range of temperature at Buffalo, N. Y., March 3, 1904: Highest, 50 ; lowest, 16 ; 
variation, 34° in twelve hours." — U. S. Weather Bureau. 




STEAMER JAS. J. CAMPBELL, WHICH RUNS BETWEEN BATABANO, CUBA, AND THE 

ISLE OF PINES — ROOMY AND COMFORTABLE PASSENGER ACCOMMODATIONS 

AND LARGE FREIGHT CAPACITY 



can be shipped to the Northern markets by sea nearly all the way in 
a total of four days, and at a freight rate which Florida or California 
cannot obtain, as transportation by water is always cheaper than by 
rail. 

Passengers who sail from New York on a fast steamer on a 
Saturday arrive in Havana on the following Wednesday, after a pleas- 
ant trip down the Atlantic coast passing within sight of the Florida 
shores. 

After spending the day in Havana sightseeing, the trip is resumed 
Thursday morning by rail to Batabano, thirty miles distant across the 
Island of Cuba. 

Here a roomy, comfortable steamer is waiting and the voyage 
over to the Isle of Pines is begun, the steamer passing in sight of 
the numerous islets or cays, as they are called, which dot the sea 
between Cuba and the Isle of Pines where passengers arrive in time 
for supper. 

The Fare for the round trip New York to the Isle of Pines is $95.20 
first-class and $58.60 second class. Another steamship line offers even 
cheaper rates than these. (See page 91.) 

14 



"The greatest variation in temperature in the Isle of Pines in one day, in 1902, was 
14°, on December 28; the difference between 72° and 58 ." — From Dr. Kellogg s Report. 



PARLOR OF AN AMERICAN HOTEL, NUEVA GERONA, ISLE OF PINES 

Through Tickets to the Isle of Pines can be purchased in New 
York. 

Board at the hotels in the Isle of Pines is $2.00 per day or $10 and 
upwards a week. 

FIVE YEARS OF FREEDOM 

At the close of the Spanish-American War, agriculture and com- 
merce in Cuba were paralyzed. The population of the Island had 
been reduced by the relentless efforts which Weyler had made to 
exterminate the Cuban people — an end which he was only prevented 
from accomplishing by the great fertility of the soil and the final 
intervention of the United States. 

In the Isle of Pines, however, a different condition prevailed be- 
cause, being detached from the larger island and garrisoned by Spanish 
troops, it was spared from the scenes of destruction and slaughter 
which devastated the fields of Cuba. In proof of this immunity which 
the Isle of Pines enjoyed it may be said that the Henry Clay and Bock 
Cigar Company of Havana leased tobacco fields in the Isle of Pines 
and sent over their own workmen to cultivate them when the districts 
where tobacco is raised near Havana were laid waste by the contending 

forces. 

15 



"New York bankers have just lent $35,000,000 to the Cuban Republic. This proves 
the confidence capitalists have in the Cuban government." — Daily Paper. 




BUILDING AN AMERICAN CHURCH IN THE ISLE OF PINES. THE CHURCH AND 

THE SCHOOL-HOUSE MARK THE PROGRESS OF AMERICAN SETTLEMENT 

OF THE ISLAND. 

550,000 Pounds of tobacco were raised in one season. The cigars 
manufactured from it were of the finest quality. Tobacco from this 
Island brings the highest market price in Havana. 

Since the war, a wise and stable American form of government 
has been established in place of the oppression and extortion prac- 
ticed by the Spanish. The people of the Republic of Cuba are on their 
mettle, so to speak, and are proving to the world that they are capable 
of self-government. There is to-day in the Isle of Pines as perfect 
security to life and property as in any part of the United States. 

"Commercial Cuba in 1903," a publication issued by the U. S. 
Government Department of Commerce and Labor, says (page 369) 
"Those who now sell to Cuba know that they will be paid and what 
kind of money they will get. Those who immigrate to Cuba know 
they are safe in settling there." 

The Result is that American investors have been quick to seize 
the opportunities which were offered by the depression of values in 
real estate during the recent war and millions of dollars have been 
spent in purchasing vast areas of virgin lands. Colonists and settlers 
from the United States are flocking clown by every steamer. Superb 
sugar plantations, equipped with costly machinery, rich tobacco and 
vegetable farms and great groves of orange and grapefruit trees are 
springing up on all sides. 



"The influence of the United States, even though direct intervention has ceased, still 
broods over the Island." — Victor S. Clark, Ph. D., U. S. Government Report. 



■ 




9 




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ICE FACTORY WITH A CAPACITY OF $72 TONS A DAY, BUILT BY' AN" AMERICAN, 
IN THE ISLE OF PINES 

Everywhere Americans are taking the lead in the development of 
Cuba's vast natural resources. The Chaparra and United Fruit Com- 
panies' magnificent new sugar mills, the largest and finest in the world, 
are owned by Americans. They also own the new railroad, the new 
steamship lines and the new hotels. They control the tobacco and 
fruit trade of the Republic and are getting out most of the valuable 
timber and minerals which are being shipped. The results are appar- 
ent everywhere. 

In the Isle of Pines, the absentee landlords, mostly the heirs of 
proud Spanish families, were quite willing to sell their broad acres 
over which the banner of Arragon and Castile no longer floated. 

Nearly All the agricultural, timber and mineral lands of the Isle 
of Pines are owned by Americans. 

The largest crops of sugar, tobacco, bananas, citrus fruits, vege- 
tables and hone)- which Cuba and the Isle of Pines ever exported will 
be shipped this year, and still the larger proportion of their area is 
untouched. 

A BRILLIANT CHANCE FOR AMERICAN SETTLERS AND 

INVESTORS 

"Commercial Cuba in 1903" issued by the United States Govern- 
ment, sa}'S : 

17 



COTTON 

Cotton: Ready to pick four months after planting; yield, 
3,000 pounds of seed cotton or 1,000 pounds of lint cotton (two 
bales) and 2,000 pounds of cotton seed per acre, worth from 
eighteen cents to thirty cents per pound for the cotton alone and 
one-half cent per pound for the seed. 

Our Estimate : 500 pounds (one bale) per acre ; average whole- 
sale price in the Isle of Pines, twenty cents per pound or $100 per 
bale; cost of production, six cents per pound or $30 per bale or 
acre; profit, $70 per bale or acre, exclusive of the value of the 

seed ($5). 

# * * * * # 

Extract from the Report of A. N. Livesy, Esq., General Man- 
ager, Western Railway of Cuba to Frank Steinhart, Consul Gen- 
eral at Havana, and published -in the U. S. Consular Reports, 
August, 1903 : 

"On my visits to cultivated farms in the Island I have seen 
tame Sea Island Cotton planted from seed imported from Florida 
anywhere from fifteen days to four months old, and in every case 
the plants appeared healthy. Plants two weeks old were from six 
to seven inches high ; those four months old were from four to 
six feet in height, the latter weighed down with all the fruit the 
stalks could hold from grown bolls to small forms averaging 
eighty bolls to the stalk. 

"With such a yield from a plant only four months old, I 
hesitate to estimate what the crop would be from a twelve- 
months' old tree, as the rapid increase in the size of the stalk 
would cause it to bear more fruit toward the latter part of the year. 

"I should make a conservative estimate at 500 mature bolls 
per tree for the first year and should judge that every crop will 
be better until after the third or fourth year. 

"This would give a result of four pounds of seed cotton to 
the stalk in a year's growth, or about 3,000 pounds of seed cotton 
to the acre, which would net at least two 500-pound bales of lint 
cotton per acre. 

"The plants all appear to bear full and do not shed the young 
bolls, as they do in Georgia and Florida. 

"The staple is fine and silky and longer than the average Sea 
Island Cotton in the United States. * * * 

"I consider this variety superior to our East Florida cotton, 
and would sell cheap at from eighteen to twenty-one cents per 
pound." 



18 




COTTON. 
(G-ossypium barbadense.) 



"A population of several millions could be profitably employed in agriculture alone." 
-Victor S. Clark, Ph. D., U. S. Government Report. 




PRESIDENT HAYES IN A FIELD OF LONG STAPLE SEA ISLAND COTTON FROM WHICH 

A LARGE CROP HAS BEEN GATHERED AT THE FIRST PICKING. 

PHOTOGRAPHED IN DECEMBER, I903. 

"It is probable that at the present time (Sept. I, 1903), the total 
investment of American capital in Cuba has become increased to 
somewhere between $90,000,000 and $100,000,000. Good judges esti- 
mate that in the shape of sugar plantations, fruit and vegetable farms, 
cattle ranges, mines, colony tracts and holdings for investment, Amer- 
ican interests now hold in fee simple from seven to eight per cent, 
of the area of the Island." (Cuba.) 

The thousands of American colonists and settlers now residing 
in the Republic have proved beyond question that it is "a white man's 
country," and are spreading the gospel of the new promised land 
among their friends at home. 

General Leonard Wood stated in an article entitled "The Future 
of Cuba," published in the New York "Independent," January 23, 1902, 
that "The people of the United States are responsible for the future of 
a country which at present is populated by 2,000,000 people, but which, 
it can be safely predicted, will represent fully 15,000,000 population 
in twenty years, considering the prospective rate of immigration." 

This statement, coming from a man who knows the Island so 
thoroughly, means something and is worth pondering. 

There is nothing so surprising about the growth of this fertile 

19 



T. .1. Kkeixan. 

MOOM Snjn PaRMHRM HANK Hl'tl.l'IN*. 



IMTl'BBURU. ■!•*.. ApPl 1 13th., 1904. 



R.P.Risley, Esq. , 

88 Dun Bldg. , 

Buffalo, H Y 
Dear Sir; T 

Responding to your recent inquiry, I beg leave to say 
that the orange trees which you photographed on my property on the 
Isle of Pines last August were planted about two years before. Some 
of them are now bearing fruit, although not as yet in marketable quan- 
tities The grape vine had been put out about a year before It was 
of a hot-house variety which thrives in this climate, owing to the even 
temperature and absence of frost. I have great hopes for the future 
of the Isle of Pines as a producer of grapes and citrus fruits. The 
old trees planted by the natives which were, as a matter of course, 
neglected, yield freely a splendid quality of fruit. The new groves 
whic,h the Americans have planted on a larger scale are thrifty, and I 
expect a heavy yield fron them within the next two or three years. 

There is already talk, of putting a steamer on to carry the 
fruit direct from the Island to Mobile and New Oreleans. The old Span- 
ish government of Cuba appeared to realize the fact that the Isle of 
Pines was well suited for grape culture, as they prohibited the plant- 
ing of the vines for fear of competition with the wine industry of Spain. 

I have visited grape growing regions in Europe, Asia, Af- 
rica and America, and to my mind the conditions on the Isle of Pines 
are suited to the production of the finest quality of such grapes as 
are raised in Portugal, Maderia and southern California. A native 
neighbor of mine on the Island tells me that he gathered some five 
pound bunches off his vines last year. 

Very truly yours, 



S-/.7tL~. 



20 



"Cuba is yet an undeveloped Island and possesses infinite possibilities." — Consul- 
General Steinhart, of Cuba, U. S. Consular Reports. 



AN AMERICAN HOME IN THE ISLE OF PINES. MODEST? YES. BUT WHEN THE 

ORANGE TREES IN THE FOREGROUND ARE IN BEARING THE OWNER CAN 

HAVE AS ELABORATE A RESIDENCE AS HE WISHES. 

region, however. We have seen the same thing happen time and time 
again in the United States. Remember how California, Kansas, the 
Dakotas and Oklahoma were developed on account of their agricul- 
tural resources. Bear in mind, too, that the Western farmer who 
raises twenty bushels of wheat to the acre and gets seventy-five cents 
per bushel for it thinks he is getting rich, while in the Isle of Pines 
$250 to $500 per acre can be made with far less effort and uncertainty. 

Gen. Robert P. Porter, former United States Commissioner, says: 

''The future of Cuba presents a possibility of wealth that is incal- 
culable." 

Rev. Robert S. McArthur says : 

"If I were asked for an opinion, I would advise any young man 
to go to Cuba. Cuba will in a few years be the Eden of America." 

Collier's Weekly says: 

"Cuba stands to-day in great need of the small farmer, and the 
small farmer, if he but knew it, has been looking for Cuba all his life." 

The Conclusion to be drawn from these statements is that this 
region, the fairest part of which is the Isle of Pines, is entering upon 
a remarkable period of agricultural and industrial activity. No "boom" 
but a sure, steady growth in which the capitalist and the colonist are 
both participating. 21 



"I advise the cultivation of oranges, lemons, coffee, cocoanuts and bananas." — General 
Leonard Wood. 




GRAPE GROWING WAS FORBIDDEN UNDER SPANISH RULE. THIS SHOWS A ONE- 
YEAR-OLD GRAPE VINE. IN THE ISLE OF PINES. 

No matter which class you belong to, under our system you can 
share in the money to be made out of the development of this fertile 
country as explained herein. 

The Annexation of Cuba and the Isle of Pines by the United 
States is a possibility of vast importance to be considered in reckoning 
the future value of real estate in these Islands. 

And the way annexation will ultimately be brought about is 
through American colonization and investment. 

SOIL AND PRODUCTS OF THE ISLE OF PINES 

In no part of the United States is found a soil so rich, so fertile, 
so productive as in the Isle of Pines. 

There is no garden like this favored spot. 

It is perfect in soil and climate. 

Three crops a year can be grown. 

Four hundred years of Spanish misrule prevented the develop- 
ment of more than a small portion of this beautiful Island and thou- 
sands of acres of virgin soil now await the thrifty and energetic Amer- 
ican to make it the most productive spot in the world. 

The area of the Isle of Pines is about 800 square miles, about two- 
thirds that of the State of Rhode Island. With a soil superior to 

22 



"There are about fifty different species of fruit trees" (in Cuba and the Isle of Pines) 
-Consul-General Steinhart, of Cuba, U. S Consular Reports. 




THE RESULT OF CULTIVATION. A TREE SCIENTIFICALLY CARED FOR TWO AND A 
HALF YEARS AFTER BUDDING — FULL OF FRUIT. 

that of Florida or California and blest with a healthful and even 
climate, it could easily support a population of 100,000 people. 

Every tropical fruit that will grow anywhere on earth can be 
raised here. 

Southern California cannot equal the Isle of Pines with its 
Oranges, Grapefruit, Pineapples, Lemons, Limes, Bananas, Tama- 
rinds, Pomegranates, Mangoes, Figs, Cocoanuts, Sapotes, Custard 
Apples, Grapes. Mameys, Guavas and Rose Apples. 

The diversity of its crops is marvelous. Sugar-cane, Tobacco, 
Coffee, Chocolate, Vanilla, Sea Island Cotton, Rice, and Yuca (starch 
plant) grow luxuriantly and are enormously profitable. 

The nut crops of the Isle of Pines including Walnuts, Almonds 
and Pecans bid fair to be very important. 

Fortunes can be made growing early vegetables. Potatoes from 
this region sell for $9.50 per barrel in New York in January. All early 
vegetables, including Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Sweet and Irish Potatoes, 
Peas, Beans, Radishes, Onions, Turnips, Egg Plant, Corn, Lettuce, 
Cabbage, Asparagus, Okra, etc. ; also Strawberries, Raspberries, Black- 
berries, Watermelons, Cantaloupes, etc., grow in winter in the open 
air and beat the Florida products to the New York markets by sixty 
days, bringing fancy prices. 

The Isle of Pines is a natural fruit and vegetable garden capable 

23 



« * * * ^g future of Cuba presents a possibility of wealth that is incalculable.' 
General Robert P. Porter. 




A PINEAPPLE FIELD IN THE ISLE OF PINES. THIS DELICIOUS FRUIT CAN BE 

SHIPPED IN MID-WINTER WHEN IT BRINGS THE HIGHEST 

MARKET PRICE 

of immense and profitable development and in close proximity to the 
great markets of the United States where eighty millions of people 
are willing to buy all that the Isle of Pines can raise and pay the 
highest winter prices for its crops. 

So rich is the soil that a tract the size of a city lot will furnish all 
the fruit and vegetables that a family can consume. 

As a grazing and cattle country the fertile, well-watered plains 
of the Isle of Pines surpass Texas and Wyoming. The nutritious 
guinea grass which grows luxuriantly supports one head of cattle to 
the acre, while in Texas the buffalo grass supports but one steer on 
every three acres. 

All cattle were killed during the war to supply beef for the troops 
in Cuba and re-stocking has therefore been necessary. Oxen do all 
the heavy work and are in great demand. There is a fine opportunity 
for raising mules, cattle and hogs in the Isle of Pines. 

Before 1895 there were over seven million head of live stock in 
Cuba and the Isle of Pines. At the close of the war (1898) there were 
only 400,000. At present there are one and one-half millions. There 
is room for several million more. 

The Isle of Pines is a vast bed of tropical flowers and bees can 
work both summer and winter. Bee culture and honey gathering 

24 



"Frosts are unknown, and there is sufficient amount of rainfall to do away with the 
need of artificial irrigation." — General Leonard Wood. 




THE FIRST SHIPMENT OF COMB HONEY SENT BY AN AMERICAN FROM THE ISLE 

OF PINES. BEE KEEPING IS PROVING ONE OF THE MOST PROFITABLE 

PURSUITS OF THE AMERICAN SETTLERS. 

are, therefore, a very profitable and easy way of making money. Many 
of the American settlers have apiaries and honey and wax are being 
exported to the United States. As much as $2,000 a year has been 
made in this easy pursuit. Orange-growing and bee-keeping are two 
industries which go hand in hand, as the orange blossoms with which 
the trees are covered when in flower will furnish enough honey to 
support many hives of bees. Ladies can easily pursue this business 
on a piece of land no larger than an ordinary city lot. 

"Fortunes In Fruit and other Products of the Isle of Pines" is 
the title of a little book which is published 'giving detailed facts about 
the agricultural possibilities offered by this Garden spot. We haven't 
room to tell all you ought to know about these matters in this pros- 
pectus, but if you will write for the other book we shall cheerfully 
mail it free. 



OUR CHEAP FREIGHT RATE AND FINE SHIPPING 

FACILITIES 

McKinley, Isle of Pines, enjoys a lower freight rate on the 
products it ships to the markets of the North than any other American 
Colony in Cuba. 

25 



TOMATOES 

Tomatoes : Ready for picking four weeks after planting, yield 
240 crates per acre; cost, delivered in New York, $1.25 per crate; 
average wholesale selling price, December to March, $3.50 to $4.50 
per crate; profit, $2.25 to $3.25 per crate or $540 to $780 per acre. 



Extract from "Commercial Cuba in 1903," published by the 
U. S. Department of Commerce and Labor, August, 1903 : 

* * * "It will unquestionably be easy and natural for 
Cuba to export to the United States and other countries large 
quantities of vegetables, especially those of a tropical or semi- 
tropical habitat, and those which are in demand early in the year 
in northern communities. 

"One great advantage possessed by the Cuban vegetable 
grower is that almost all kinds of vegetables enjoy in that Island 
a perennial growth, one crop following its predecessor immedi- 
ately. 

"In this way the producer reaps the reward of two, and some- 
times three, crops annually of all the different kinds of vegetables 
which he cultivates." 



Extract from Report of A; A. Quint, of Ouibra Hacha, Re- 
public of Cuba: 

"I planted a quarter acre with tomatoes, the yield was sixty 
crates of very large, fine tomatoes. The price in New York at 
time of picking was $3.50 per crate." * * *. 



26 



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"There is a future for industrious Americans who go to Cuba." — General Leonari 



Wood. 




TOBACCO READY TO BE PICKED. ONE OF THE MOST VALUABLE CROPS RAISED 
BY AMERICAN SETTLERS 



Sir William Van Home, President of the Cuba Company which 
has built the railroad through the Island of Cuba is quoted as stating 
to a party of Americans, who, having settled on the road, called upon 
him for information, that the railroad will charge twenty-five cents 
freight per box on oranges shipped to the sea-port of Nipe Bay, their 
nearest point of shipment to New York. The rate will be the same 
no matter how near the coast the oranges are raised. At present, how- 
ever, there is no steamship line to Nipe Bay which the settler in Cuba 
can ship by. 

Contrast this expensive freight rate with the cheap rate of nine 
cents a box on oranges and vegetables from the Isle of Pines by 
steamer (sixty miles) to Batabano and thirty miles across Cuba to 
Havana. 

From Havana to New York the freight rate is the same as it will 
be from any other point in Cuba, viz., twenty-nine cents a crate for 
vegetables and thirty-five cents a box for oranges, grapefruit, etc. 

It costs ninety-eight cents to ship a box of oranges from Cali- 
fornia to New York. 

Finally, there are several fine harbors in the Isle of Pines from 
which freight can be shipped to New York, New Orleans, Mobile, 
Boston, Philadelphia, etc., by water all the way. Should it be deemed 

27 






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28 



"The indigenous trees of the tropics are found side by side with the wild pine from 
which the Island takes its name." — U. S. Government Report on the Isle of Pines. 




AN AMERICAN HOME IN A GROVE OF ROYAL PALMS WITH YOUNG ORANGE 
TREES IN THE FOREGROUND 

best to do so, the Americans of the Isle of Pines can easily put on a 
steamship service sailing direct from the Isle of Pines using steamers 
which can be chartered and need not be bought or built. 

Furthermore, there are two lines of steamers which pass in sight 
of the Island now and which will call for freight when there is sufficient 
to make it pay to do so. 



BEAUTIFUL SCENERY OF THE ISLAND 

The rich, tropical foliage, the verdure-clad hills and the clear, 
running streams of the Isle of Pines lend a charm to its scenery which 
is the delight of all beholders. No human eye ever beheld anything 
more beautiful. Americans who have once visited it are loath to 
leave. Those who live there spend whole days in the open air amid its 
groves of royal palms, its cocoanut trees and its health-giving pines. 
Rare and beautiful cactus plants, star-palms, bottle palms and graceful 
palmettos abound, while the woods are carpeted with wild flowers and 
ferns of numberless varieties, and the trees are covered with exquisite 
orchids and creepers. 

Such is the balmy, breezy Isle of Pines — a paradise of fruit, 
flowers, scenery, sunshine and wealth for all who seek. 

29 



"The climate is superb — the flora like fairy land." — Professor T. C. Hailes of Al- 
bany, N. Y., in his Report on the Isle of Pines. 




NO, NOT AN IOWA CORNFIELD, BUT AN IOWAN S CORNFIELD IN THE ISLE OF PINES 

MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS 



The Isle of Pines is about thirty-two miles from north to south 
and thirty miles from east to west, varying to lesser proportions. 

There are three ranges of hills or small mountains running gen- 
erally from north to south, though merging toward the interior. The 
principal mountain peaks of the Island, several more than 1,000 feet in 
height, are visible on clear days from the Island of Cuba, and seen 
from the ocean, add an indescribable charm to the appearance of the 
"Isla de Pinos," which has been compared to "a great jewel pendant 
from the throat of Cuba, blazing in the tropic sun." 

The United States Government Report says of the mountains of 
the Isle of Pines : 

"The most remarkable summits are the Sierra de la Canada, 1,600 
feet high, with precipices 150 feet; Daguilla, 1,500 feet high, from 
the summit of which may be had a view of the entire Island ; Sierra de 
Caballos, 1,074 feet high ; Mount Casas, about two miles from the 
latter, composed of beautiful marbles of various colors, and Mount 
Cristales, of moderate height, its sides being covered abundantly with 
green rock crystals." 

And again the Report says : 

30 



"The quality of the marble is reported by experts to be suitable for the finest statuary, 
the color being the purest white." — U. S. Government Report on the Isle of Pines. 





A NAVIGABLE RIVER IN THE ISLE OF PINES 



"The Sierra de los Cristales or Crystal Hill, an elevated summit 
about the center of the Island twelve miles from Santa Fe, is reached 
over a good road through a wild but picturesque country alternating 
between beautiful meadows and pine forests. The sides of the hill are 
barren and rocky and without vegetation. From its summit may 
be seen Nueva Gerona, on the north, the Sierras Daguilla and de la 
Canada screening the Cienaga on the east and west, and over inter- 
vening hills and valleys, the blue ocean stretching toward the Spanish 
main of old." 

Walks and Drives are numerous there being a multitude of pic- 
turesque and beautiful localities to explore and bits of scenery to 
enjoy so peaceful in their wealth of tropic beauty and virgin loveli- 
ness that it would seem the eye of man had never rested on them 
before. 

The surface of the Island is, for the most part, rolling, fertile and 
well watered. 

There are eighteen rivers, some of them navigable for four or five 
miles, in the Isle of Pines, beside numberless small streams and creeks. 
The waters of all are clear, sweet and good to drink except, of course, 
near the ocean where they are salty. There is plenty of fresh water 
everywhere. 

31 



"A good quality of brick clay is found in the Island." — U. S. Government Report on 
the Isle of Pines. 




AN AMERICAN RESIDENCE BUILT OF BRICK AND CEMENT — COOL AND COMFORTABLE 



VALUABLE TIMBER AND MINERALS 



Over Sixty Varieties of rare and valuable hard-woods are found 
on the Isle of Pines, among them being mahogany, (a single log of 
which sold recently in the American market for $2,800) ebony, rose- 
wood, Spanish cedar, from which cigar boxes are made, sabicu, taking 
a fine polish, and jucaro, said to be imperishable in water. There are 
millions of feet of yellow pine for building purposes and manufactur- 
ing orange, pineapple and vegetable boxes and crates. There are 
several saw mills already in operation on the Island. 

The Minerals of the Island include vast deposits of fine marble — 
whole mountains of it in fact — of various colors, running from purest 
white statuary marble to the blue veined and pink varieties used for 
building and interior finishing. The quarries were worked very profit- 
ably before the Spanish killed the industry, and in Havana several pub- 
lic and private buildings are pointed out wherein it is used. Gold and 
silver and clay (suitable for brick and tile making) are also found, 
though the two metals mentioned have not been discovered in paying 
quantities, while in caves in the mountains are large deposits of guano 
worth $30 a ton in the United States as fertilizer, though hardly 
needed in the Isle of Pines. 

32 



"The white man can live there and work without danger.'" — Governor-General Leon- 
ard Wood. 




AN AMERICAN WORK TEAM IN THE ISLE OF PINES 

FISH, GAME AND ANIMALS 

Seven Hundred Varieties of fish; also crabs, oysters, lobsters and 
turtles are found in the waters surrounding the Isle of Pines. The sea 
and rivers which empty into it are literally alive with them. Sea-bass, 
red-snapper and pompano are the choicest eating. 

Parokeets, and beautiful humming birds brilliant as winged 
jewels, quail, and wild pigeons are found in the woods, and ducks along 
the coast. Such game is plentiful as very few natives own guns owing 
to the license of $10 a year required of those who keep them. 

There are positively no poisonous snakes or insects or dangerous 
wild animals on the Island. The largest four-footed animal found is 
the "hutia" about the size of a large squirrel. You can sleep in the 
open air in the woods or in a tent without the slightest danger from 
beast or reptiles. Mosquitoes and even common house flies are never 
troublesome even in summer at McKinley. 

HEALTHFUL CLIMATE OF THE ISLE OF PINES 

The United States Government Report (page 15) referring to the 
widespread reputation for health which the Isle of Pines enjoys, quotes 
the following: "The climate of Isle of Pines is among the healthiest 
known. No yellow fever nor cholera which in former years decimated 
the population of Cuba ever made its appearance here. Although south 

33 



PINEAPPLES 

Pineapples: 8,000 to 10,000 plants per acre, which bear in 12 
to 18 months from time of planting an average of 8,000 pineapples 
or 250 crates per acre; cost, delivered at New York, $1.25 per 
crate; average wholesale price over six months, $2.93 per crate; 
average profit per crate, $1.68. 

Our Estimate: 250 crates per acre ; profit, $1 per crate; total 
profit, $250 per acre. 

ifc ifc ij: ^c ;jt . ^s 

Extract from the United States Government Report on the 
Jsle of Pines: 

"Pineapple (pina). — Several varieties of this fruit grow in the 
Island, and with proper cultivation may be a valuable product." 

^ - i|« 4-' : S= ^jc $: 

Extract from "Commercial Cuba in 1903," published by the 
U. S. Department of Commerce and Labor, August, 1903 : 

"The figures of the Cuban pineapple export trade of the last 
few years are yet more striking. 

"About $50,000 worth of pineapples were exported in 1899, 
and $250,000 worth in 1901 ; while the increase since then has 
been truly wonderful, as will be seen by reference to the official 
statements of transportation managers of Cuban and United States 
Steamship and Railway lines. 

"From these it appears that there has been an increase of 
about 400 per cent, in the pineapple shipments of Cuba to the 
gulf States in the last three years or about 150 per cent, to the 
whole United States. 

"The total shipments for 1901 amounted to the equivalent 
of 345,255 crates; for 1902. 496,400 crates; for 1903, thus far, 
812,785 crates." 

* * * * # * 

Extract from the Report of Consul Hyatt, at Santiago, Cuba, 
U. S. Consular Reports : 

"Planters figure a profit" (on pineapples) "of from $250 to 
$700 an acre." 

* * ■ * * * * 

Extract from Report of James Holmes of Eden, Fla. : 

"I refused $25,000 for fifty acres of pineapples not yet all in 
bearing which paid $17,000 in 1901." 



34 




PINE -APPLE. 
% Life-size. 



COPYRIGHT 190( 



MUMFOHO, CHIC-GO 



"The range of temperature between summer and winter [in the Isle of Pines] rarely 
exceeds a mean of n°." — U. S. Government Report on the Isle of Pines. 




ONE OF THE FIRST OF THE AMERICAN HOMES IN THE ISLE OF PINES. 
NOW USED AS A BARN. 



of Cuba its temperature is lower on account of the winds which are 
always blowing. From all parts, from Cuba as well as from the 
United States the sick come to be cured by the pure air and beneficial 
waters of its springs and creeks." 

As a permanent place of residence as well as a health and pleasure 
resort the Isle of Pines, owing to its climatic and scenic charms, is 
attracting wide attention. 

Any person from a northern climate can live in the Isle of Pines 
in summer with as much comfort as in the State of New York, while 
the winter months are, of course, very much more comfortable than 
in a land of snow, sleet and blizzards. 

The Isle of Pines enjoys one continuous summer, the variations 
in the temperature throughout the entire year being scarcely as great 
as often occur in a single day in many of the Northern States. It is 
rare indeed when the thermometer in summer on the Island registers 
over ninety and in winter the mercury never falls below fifty. 

No such thing as sunstroke or heat prostration is known and the 
climatic effect on Northern people, although engaged in outdoor occu- 
pations even in the "rainy season" of the year, is not serious because 
there are no sudden weather changes. It is claimed that there has 
never been a case of typhoid or yellow fever on the island. 

35 








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"Warmer for a fact. The mercury got up to zero this morning." — Buffalo Evening 
News, Feb. 18, 1904. 




A NATIVE UNCULTIVATED ORANGE TREE IN THE ISLE OF PINES 

The soil being a loam (not a clay) with a slight mixture of sand, 
there is very little mud during the wettest time of the year, while 
all kinds of plows and other field or garden tools scour beautifully, 
rendering it a great pleasure to work the soil as compared with the 
soil of Cuba, where both the red and black lands are so muddy in 
the wet season, that tools will not scour, while in the dry season the 
earth is baked hard. 

Dr. Hernandez, a well known Havana physician, says of the cli- 
mate of the Isle of Pines: 

"Thus does it happen that the evenness of the temperature during 
the 3 - ear, the purity of the atmosphere, which is slightly embalmed 
with the odoriferous resin of the pine trees, the refreshing sea breezes 
which blow from every quarter, and other influences which we cannot 
clearly trace (but which are doubtless due to the nature of the soil) 
contribute very wonderfully to the speedy restoration of those suffer- 
ing from various diseases — even of malignant form." 

OUR MINERAL SPRINGS RIVAL SARATOGA'S 

In addition to the salubrity of its climate and the charm of its 
scenery, which alone are enough to have made the Isle of Pines 
famous, the numerous mineral springs which abound in the Island 

37 



"Market gardening and the raising of food crops could engage the population of 
a good-sized state in Cuba." — Victor S. Clark, Ph. D., U. S. Government Report. 




BATH HOUSE OF AN AMERICAN RESIDENT, BUILT OVER A MINERAL SPRING IN THE 
ISLE OF PINES. FINISHED IN NATIVE MARBLE AND MAHOGANY. 

have given it a wide reputation as a health resort among the wealthy 
Cuban families for many years. The curative properties of these min- 
eral waters are certified to by physicians and officials both American 
and Cuban. 

The United States Report on the Isle of Pines says : 
"It is claimed that the waters rival Saratoga in the United States." 
The Beneficial Effects derived from the use of the mineral waters 
of the Isle of Pines are very marked in cases of pulmonary, rheumatic 
and throat diseases as well as in stomach and liver troubles. 

There are several mineral springs in the Island, the most popular 
being situated at Nueva Gerona, San Rosario, Santa Fe and Almacigos. 
The waters of these springs are bottled and delivered to residents 
when desired, and are also shipped to Havana and sold. They are 
drunk by the American colonists and residents in the Isle of Pines 
who commend them highly. Nearly all wells on the Island (which 
are easily dug or driven), yield mineral water at from ten to fourteen 
feet. 

Some Remarkable Cures are recorded from the use of these 
waters. Samuel Hazard, a well known writer, testifies that he was 
cured in ten days of a case of bronchitis which his physicians had 
been treating by touching his throat at frequent intervals with caustic 
and salts of copper. He says he has never had a return of the com- 
plaint after his sojourn at the mineral springs of the Isle of Pines. 
The course of treatment which he took is the one usually prescribed, 
and consists of drinking four glasses of the waters daily and bathing 
night and morning. 

38 



"Another industry is fishing, the adjacent waters abounding in fine marketable fish, 
lobsters and turtles." — U. S. Government Report on the Isle of Pines. 




SWIMMING POOL AND SHOWER BATH OF AN AMERICAN RESIDEXT 

The United States Government Report on the Isle of Pines (page 
14) says of the mineral springs : 

"A chemical analysis shows the waters to be impregnated with 
oxygen and carbonic acid gases, chloride of sodium, sulphate of lime, 
iron, magnesia, chloride of calcium, nitrate of lime, silex and extractic 
organic matter. Temperature of water eighty-two degrees." 

Mr. T. J. Keenan, a publisher of Pittsburg, Pa., who has recently 

purchased a large private estate on the Isle of Pines, regards the 

mineral waters of the Island so highly that he has built a private bath 

house finished in mahogany over a mineral spring on his property. 

The structure, together with the bathing pool, cost $3,000. It is built 

of brick, cement and marble and has a swimming pool, shower bath, 

etc 

AS A WINTER AND HEALTH RESORT 

A Magnificent Hotel is to be built at McKinley for the entertain- 
ment of winter tourists from the States and summer visitors from 

39 



'Poultry flourishes everywhere." — Robert T. Hill, U. S. Geological Survey. 




A BATHING BEACH ON THE NORTH COAST OF THE ISI.E OF PINES, WHERE SEA 
BATHING CAN BE ENJOYED IN MID WINTER 



Havana who wish to enjoy the balmy healthful climate and the won- 
derful medicinal mineral waters of the Isle of Pines. 

Among the Attractions which are planned is a park drive, golf 
links, a straightaway automobile course and a casino for concerts and 
dancing. 

Mr. Horace P. Hayes, President of the Tropical Development 
Company, is also interested in the automobile business besides being 
an enthusiastic autoist himself. Hence, a superb automobile course 
is assured, to be built under the supervision of the Company engineers. 
Winter visitors can bring their cars with them without paying duty. 

An Electric Railroad is under way to connect Havana with Bata- 
bano (thirty miles). This road is to be owned by an Ohio syndicate 
and upon its completion a trolley road in the Isle of Pines is planned 
which will connect with the fast steamer from Batabano, Cuba. 

Summer Visitors from Havana, a city of 235,981 people, the largest 
and wealthiest city in Cuba, as well as thousands of Northern tourists 
will thus be offered every possible inducement to run over to the Isle 
of Pines and pass a few clays amid its beautiful scenery and orange 
groves at McKinley, where, at the Highland Park Hotel they will find 
every comfort and luxury afforded by the hotels of Southern Cali- 
fornia, the Florida East Coast and Saratoga. 

40 



'Cocoanuts yield profusely and require no care." — U. S. Consul Hyatt. 




A NATIVE GRAPE FRUIT TREE WHOSE BRANCHES ARE PROPPED UP TO KEEP THEM FROM 

BREAKING — THE FRUIT FROM THIS TREE HAS BEEN PRONOUNCED 

EQUAL TO THE FINEST CULTIVATED VARIETIES 

FLOODS AND DROUGHTS ARE UNKNOWN 

The Seasons are designated by custom as wet and dry, though 
neither are remarkable for the qualities their names would indicate, 
floods and droughts being unknown. In summer, or from May to 
October, showers of brief duration are frequent, being followed by 
clearing skies as swiftly as they come up. Steady down-pours, as in 
the north, lasting the whole day, are unknown. From October to 
May, these showers are less frequent, though there is rarely, if ever, 
a fortnight when no rain falls. 

In December, 1902, for instance, Dr. E. W. Kellogg, a retired phy- 
sician, formerly of Hartford, Conn., but now a resident and planter 
of the Isle of Pines, recorded the following meteorological conditions : 

Three rainy days, twenty-five clear days and three cloudy days. 
The average rainfall for the entire year is the same as the average in 
a Northern State, viz. fifty to fifty-five inches. 

In June, 1903, during the height of the so-called "rainy season," Dr. 
Kellogg recorded only sixteen rainy days the precipitation occurring 
mostly between twelve noon, and three p. m. The nights are almost 
always clear and the heavens radiant with stars. 

Artificial irrigation is entirely unnecessary as the rainfall is ample 
and evenly enough distributed. 

41 



TOBACCO 

Tobacco: Ready for cutting in sixty to ninety days after 
planting; average crop, 6 to 13% bales (no pounds each) or 660 
to 1,500 pounds per acre; average cost including cultivation, de- 
livered at Havana, 40 cents per pound; price, 40 cents to $5 per 
pound ; average profit, 25 cents per pound or $165 to $375 per acre. 

* * * * * * 

Extract from the Report entitled "Physiography of the Isle 
of Pines," by C. Willard Hayes, U. S. Geological Survey : 

«* * * certain parts are probably as well adapted to 
Tobacco Culture as the famous Vuelta Abajo district." 

* * * * * * 

Extract from "Commercial Cuba in 1903," published by the 
U. S. Department of Commerce and Labor, August, 1903 : 

"As for the tobacco of Cuba, its fame is so great that it needs 
no description and its very excellence makes description well- 
nigh impossible. 

"Curiously, too, this very superior grade of tobacco is pro- 
duced in only one of the six provinces of Cuba— Pinar del Rio, 
the most westerly province — and in only one section of that pro- 
vince, namely, the sunny southern slope of its central mountain 
range. The land of this district stretching along down the slope 
nearly to the sea for perhaps fifteen miles and covering a space of 
perhaps 500 square miles, is entirely of the Tertiary geological 
formation, and is said by the encyclopedias, rather superfluously, 
to be peculiarly well suited for the cultivation of fine tobacco. 
The district is called, in common parlance, 'Vuelta Abajo.' 
****** 
Extract from "Fortunes in Fruit and Other Products of the 
Isle of Pines:" 

"Separated by only thirty-four and one-half miles of water 
from the nearest point in the Vuelta Abajo tobacco district, the 
soil and climate of the Isle of Pines more nearly resembles this 
world-famous locality than does any portion of the Cuban main 

land." 

****** 

Extract from the "U. S. Government Report on the Isle of 
Pines :" 

"Tobacco from this Island sells in Havana at the highest 
market rates." 



42 




FROM KtEHLER'S MEDICIN*L-PFLANZEN. 

504 



TOBACCO. 
(Nicotiana tabacum.) 



CHICAGO: 
MUMFORO, PU8LISH£fl 



''Its people are intelligent, capable and ambitious." — Commercial Cuba in 1903, U. 
S. Government. 




A FIELD OF YOUNG TOBACCO PLANTS 



Cyclones never visit the Isle of Pines owing to its sheltered loca- 
tion and earthquakes are unknown there. 

A SAFE GOVERNMENT AND A LAW ABIDING PEOPLE 

The Isle of Pines is governed as a part of the Cuban Republic, 
which, under the wise and judicious administration of President 
Palma, affords ample protection to life and property. These condi- 
tions are further assured by the United States for, under the Piatt 
amendment, it reserves the right to interfere in Cuban affairs should 
it become necessary to do so. This amendment has been adopted by 
Cuba as a part of its national constitution. The United States has, 
furthermore, established coaling stations at convenient points in Cuba, 
the one at Bahia Honda being only about 100 miles from the Isle of 
Pines. A force of United States coast artillery will be constantly 
on duty at these stations. The large investments which Americans 
are making - in Cuba and the Isle of Pines prove conclusively the faith 
which capitalists and settlers have in the stability of the government 
of the new Republic. 

The Natives of the Isle of Pines are kindly disposed toward 
Americans and are considered honest in their dealings. While not 
remarkably industrious, because they don't have to work hard, they 
are not so lazy nor so much given to holiday making as are the people 

43 



"They" (the Cubans) "are fast learning the actual capacities of their country. 
Commercial Cuba in 1903, U. S. Government. 




AN ORANGE TREE IN THE ISLE OF PINES TWO YEARS AFTER 
BEING SET OUT 

of many Spanish-American countries. Their agricultural methods in 
the past have been of a very crude, and primitive character, but they 
learn quickly and prove good farm laborers under proper supervision. 

Wages of farm laborers are $1.00 a clay and such labor is plentiful. 

The American Population of the Isle of Pines which is justly 
known as the "American District of Cuba," is much larger in propor- 
tion than that of Cuba being ten times as great and is constantly 
increasing. 

Crime and drunkenness, even ordinary petty thieving, are prac- 
tically unknown in the Isle of Pines. Houses are left open and unpro- 
tected day and night, and the local police, or rural guards as they are 
called, have little to do beside ordinary patrol duty. 

General Leonard Wood says in his final report : 

"Public order has continued excellent. The rural guard has been 
found entirely sufficient to enforce respect for the law in all districts 

44 



"Oranges of delicious flavor grow spontaneously in all parts of the Island." — Robert 
T. Hill, U. S. Geological Survey. 

outside of the built-up portion of the municipalities, which are under 
the immediate supervision of the local or municipal police." 

WHY OUR TAXES ARE LOW 

Taxes on real estate or personal property are much lower in the 
Republic of Cuba than in the United States. Uncultivated lands are 
not taxed at all. Cultivated lands pay a very low rate of tax based 
upon the value of their crops in the Republic. 

"Commercial Cuba In 1903" issued by the U. S. Government says : 
"Cuba can now invite trade and immigration on fair terms. Its 
public expenditures are no longer devoted to the support of foreign 
officials and a foreign army but are in the interest of the public wel- 
fare and progress. Taxes are now low, and ninety per cent, of the 
revenue comes from the customs duties. The old millstone of the 
enormous Spanish-Cuban debt has been cast off. The community is 
solvent, independent and progressive." 

McKINLEY, ISLE OF PINES— A CITY OF ORANGE GROVES 

The Tropical Development Company has been organized by gen- 
tlemen experienced in enterprises of this character for the purpose of 
establishing under the name of McKinley a thoroughly American com- 
munity in the fair and fertile Isle of Pines. 

The Tract we are now offering comprises 5,200 acres of rich roll- 
ing land in the northwestern portion of the Isle of Pines, seven miles 
from Nueva Gerona, the chief sea-port of the Island at present. 

The Principal Industry of McKinley will be the cultivation of 
Citrus Fruits — Oranges, Grapefruit, Lemons and Limes, also Pine- 
apples; oranges and grapefruit of choice, selected varieties being the 
principal crops. The Tropical Development Company will set the 
example in this direction by establishing at once an immense grove 
of 45,000 orange and grapefruit trees under the supervision of its 
Superintendent, an expert Florida fruit grower. 

Private Groves of five to forty acres will spring up around the 
main grove as the Company will encourage colonization and invest- 
ment at McKinley by the most liberal method of free land allotments 
to investors and settlers ever devised. 

The Land Bonus which is secured by early purchasers of our 
Profit Sharing Gold Bonds is fully described hereinafter. Under our 
broad business policy it is possible for any one to secure now an ideal 
site for a winter home or residence, a business location or a tract of 
fertile fruit land absolutely free in a community which will have sev- 
eral thousand population in a few years. (See page 73.) 

The Property selected for the McKinley Colony was originally 
part of the Costa Estate, portions of which have been brought under 
cultivation. 45 



CONSULADO GENERAL 
DE CUBA. 

98 WALL STREET. 
NEW VORK. 



no. 470. 



New York, Noviembre 10 de 1903 



R. P. Risley Esq. , 

Buffalo, N. Y. 
Dear Sir,- 

In answer to your letter of yesterday's 
date, I beg to say*that the importation duty on 
coffee in Cuba is $18.00 U.S. Go Id, per 220 pounds: 
also that the wholesale price 'obtainable for said 
article fluctuates from $15.00 to $20.00 per 100 
pounds, according to quality. 
I am, Sir, 

Yours truly, 




General 



46 



"A coffee plantation will pay from ioo per cent, to 300 per cent, profit." — Joseph 
Walsh, Tropical Expert. 




COFFEE TREES FROM WHICH THE FINEST QUALITY OF COFFEE IS GATHERED. 
CUBA PROTECTS THIS INDUSTRY WITH A TARIFF OF 8 2-11 C. A POUND. 

Scattered orange trees growing on these lands bearing fruit of 
delicious quality prove what can be accomplished by scientific care 
and cultivation, while the hundreds of wild lime trees which are found 
in the woods indicate the natural adaptability of the soil to citrus 
fruits. 

The Finest Tobacco in the Isle of Pines, equal to the best Cuban 
leaf, is grown on this estate and cigars of superior quality worth 
twenty cents each in the United States are manufactured from it and 
sold in the Island for from two to five cents apiece. Much of our land 
is adapted to tobacco growing and this industry will be fostered by 
the company in every way possible. 

Coffee Culture offers great opportunities in the Isle of Pines as 
the Cuban Government has placed a high tariff duty amounting to 
eight and two-elevenths cents per pound or over ioo per cent, on the 
value of all coffee imported into Cuba and the Isle of Pines from other 
countries. This has been done in order to re-establish the coffee grow- 
ing industry and protect the growers of coffee. (See opposite page.) 

Large Profits await the intelligent American settler who starts 
a coffee "finca" or plantation, as there is a local market right at his 
very doors waiting to take his crop as fast as he can deliver it and 
pay twice as much for it as he could get in the United States. 

47 



"The rehabilitation of the Cuban coffee industry would appear certain, and already 
it may be said to have begun." — Commercial Cuba in 1903, U. S. Government. 




A STRETCH OF ROAD IN THE ISLE OF PINES WHICH INVITES AUTOMOBII.ING 

AND BICYCLING 

The Tropical Development Company strongly advises the plant- 
ing of coffee and is proving its faith in this industry by establishing 
a large coffee nursery planted from the finest Cuban coffee seed (there 
is no better coffee grown) with a view toward supplying young, 
healthy coffee plants to colonists and settlers and for the purpose of 
establishing a large coffee finca of its own. 

The Facts and Figures of this delightful and highly profitable 
industry in the Isle of Pines will be found in the book "Fortunes in 
Fruit and other Products of the Isle of Pines." We urge you to read 
it carefully for such an opportunity is rarely offered as this agricul- 
tural line affords in the Isle of Pines. 

The Government Highway or "Calzada." as called in Spanish, 
affords a striking instance of the ease with which road-building can 
be accomplished in the Isle of Pines. This superb highway connects 
Nueva Gerona in the north with Santa Fe in the east central part of 
the Island, and was constructed during the American military occu- 
pancy of Cuba. It is like a macadamized road and is never muddy 
or impassable even after a hard rain as it is flanked on either side by 
continuous drains connected by frequent cement walled culverts and 
is in every sense a permanent way. It is the main-traveled road of 
the Island, and is the natural route for any trolley or steam road of 

48 



"Its present population is only a fraction of the population that it can support and that 
is needed to properly develop it." — Consul- General Steinhart, of Cuba, U. S. Consular 
Reports. 




AMERICAN ORANGE GROWERS AWAITING THE STEAMER AT NUEVA GERONA, 

ISLE OF PINES 

the future. Trolley lines could be run in almost any direction where 
necessary without involving the construction of cuts or grades more 
than required to give the proper elevation to the tracks, as the ridges 
are interspersed with numerous valleys. 

The Calzada is so fine a road that bicyclists make fifteen miles an 
hour on it easily. 

From Nueva Gerona, only seven miles from McKinley, the steam- 
ship connection with Cuba is excellent and affords an economical 
means of shipping to Havana and the northern markets. 

The Las Nuevas and Del Medio Rivers bound our lands and add 
greatly to their beauty and value. These streams vary from six to 
eighteen feet in depth and are from twenty-five to a hundred feet wide. 
Their banks are steep, not marshy, and their bottoms are of sand and 
gravel, not mud. They are not choked with reeds or vegetation. Their 
waters are pure and sweet and no sewage or refuse will be allowed 
to pollute them. There is an abundance of water the year around, as 
the rivers are fed from springs which are never dry- 
Excellent fishing may be had in these streams. 

49 



PEPPERS 

Extract from "Fortunes in Fruit and Other Products in the 
Isle of Pines:" 

"Green Peppers (stuffed), according- to the 'New York Sun,' 
are one of the most popular vegetable dishes served in the high- 
priced restaurants of Broadway and Fifth Avenue in winter. 

"Peppers grow to perfection in the Isle of Pines, the yield 
being from 240 crates per acre and more. 

"They sell in New York in winter at from $3.50 to $4.50 per 
crate, which nets the grower a profit of from $2.25 to $3.25 or 
from $540 to $780 per acre." 

* # # * * * 

Extract from Report of A. A. Quint of Quibra Hacha, Re- 
public of Cuba: 

«* * * Egg-plant, string beans, cucumbers, lettuce, pars- 
ley, okra, onions, peppers, in fact anything, will grow of the very 
best here." 



50 



en 

as 
O 



*0g 



eg 



Ss» 




"Oranges of the finest flavor grow in the greatest abundance, and without any care. 
With proper cultivation the possibilities in this line are apparently limitless." — General 
Leonard Wood. 




CORNER OF ORANGE NURSERY SHOWING YOUNG TREES ALMOST READY FOR 
TRANSPLANTING TO THE GROVE 



THE ORANGE GROVE, TOWN SITE AND PLANTATION 

TRACTS 

Three Handsome Maps of the McKinley City and Plantation 
tracts have been prepared and are published in book form, printed 
on good paper and substantially bound. They will be mailed free 
on request to any prospective settler or investor. 

The Plans of McKinley provide for the following subdivision of 
the property: 

Orange and Grapefruit Groves (45,000 trees) 500 acres 

Town Site (2,042 Business and Residence Lots) 6593/2 " 

Highland Park Hotel and Sanitarium 100 

Plantation Tracts (five to forty acres each) and Roads. 3.940 1 4 " 

Total 5,200 acres 

The Orange Grove Tract of 500 acres lies near the Nuevas River, 
the land sloping gently toward this stream. This property is as fer- 
tile as any on the Isle of Pines, and is admirably adapted to the culti- 
vation of citrus fruits. 

The entire 500 acres is being planted in orange and grapefruit 

51 




AN ORANGE TREE IN FULL BEARING 

52 



"A few families of this sort" (American settlers) "would soon be a dominant influ- 
ence in their Vicinity." — Victor S. Clark, Ph. D., U. S. Government Report. 

trees, ninety to each acre, making a total of 45,000 trees. A force of 
men is now engaged in this work. 

The orange grove property will be laid out and planted in tracts 
of five acres each, divided by streets so as to facilitate its sale as 
explained hereafter. (See pages 67 and 69.) 

Citrus fruit trees, it may be said, are first planted from the seed 
of a hardy kind in a "nursery" or seed bed, but the shoot which comes 
up is not allowed to bear its own fruit as it is not desirable. Fancy 
varieties of established reputation such as the "Washington Navel." 
"Hart's Tardif," "Mediterranean Sweets," etc., are budded on the 
young trees, the kind of fruit which the tree will bear being deter- 
mined by the grower in advance from the bud selected, the health 
of the tree being derived from the original seed. 

Our Nurseries contain 50,000 young trees planted from healthy 
seed known to be hardy growers in this region and in the course of 
one year, when the trees are two or three feet tall, they will be care- 
fully budded to fancy varieties. As soon as the buds have begun to 
grow on the young trees, the latter are ready for transplanting to 
their permanent places in the grove which, having been cleared, 
ploughed, harrowed and allowed to "sweeten" Will be then prepared 
for the planting. 

In Order to Insure Early Returns from the sale of fruit from the 
grove, the Tropical Development Company is planting several thou- 
sand two-year-old trees already budded to selected varieties of the best 
selling and most prolific orange and grapefruit stocks. 

The Town-Site of McKinley consists of 659V2 acres, being a little 
more than one square mile in area. 

It is situated on a slight elevation between two small rivers 
purposely chosen by the Company's engineers with a view toward 
insuring perfect drainage. The location is well-suited to the develop- 
ment of a thriving business and residential community. 

This tract is being surveyed into 2,042 lots, divided by twelve 
avenues and a Grand Boulevard running north and south and ten 
streets running east and west together with eight diagonal boulevards. 
The arrangement is effective and when the streets and avenues have 
been planted in Royal Palms and Cocoanut trees there will be no more 
picturesquely beautiful town in the tropics than McKinley. 

All streets are 100 feet wide between the lot lines, twenty feet in 
the centre of each being left for ornamental planting and walks with a 
ten-foot side-walk and a thirty-foot driveway on each side. 

All blocks are divided by fifteen-foot alleys giving a rear entrance 
to every lot, a very desirable feature. 

Lots are 50x150 feet in size except where otherwise surveyed as 

53 



'Cuba? It is an empire!" — The late Jay Could. 




SUMMER HOME OF A WEALTHY CUBAN IN THE ISLE OF PINES 



per map. These lots are unusually large and their size gives plenty 
of room for lawns, gardens, fruit and shade trees. 

The Plaza of McKinley is a spacious public square 930 feet long- 
by 650 feet wide around which the principal business houses, hotel, 
company's offices, churches, schools and public buildings will be 
erected. The Plaza will be laid out in serpentine walks and flower 
beds and planted with every variety of fruit trees, flowering plants, 
palms and shrubs that grow in the Island, it being the intention of 
the Tropical Development Company to convert this spot into a 
botanical garden where visitors can see at a glance the whole possi- 
bilities of fruit and horticulture in the Isle of Pines. 

The Statue of President McKinley, built by contributions from 
the company and its colonists and investors, will be erected in the 
centre of the Plaza. 

The base or pedestal will be of native marble hewn from the 
quarries of the Isle of Pines, the various colors being contrasted in 
a harmonious manner. The figure itself will be of gray bronze of 
commanding proportions and the attitude a characteristic one. The 
figure will face the east — toward Cuba and Spain — and will be elo- 
quent of the subject referred to in the quotation on the base — the free- 
dom of an oppressed people. 

54 



'Tobacco yields $200 to $1,000 per acre profit." — ■£". M. Pepper, To-morrow in Cuba. 




A NATIVE ORANGE TREE SHADING A RICH GROWTH OF THE FINEST TOBACCO 

This Statue will be the first ever erected to the memory of an 
American Statesman in the new Republic of Cuba and the conditions 
under which it is to be given are destined to make it an object of 
international interest on the part of all patriotic Americans and Cubans 
as well as residents of the Isle of Pines and strangers visiting its 
hospitable shores. 

All lots fronting on the Plaza must be. improved by their owners 
within one year from date of their allotment. 

All buildings erected on Plaza lots must be at least two stories 
.in height, built of brick with iron cornices and awnings extending 
from the first story over the sidewalks and supported by upright 
posts, thus insuring early and uniform improvement of the centre 
of the town-site. 

The Highland Park Hotel Tract comprises an area of 100 
acres which is to be laid out in walks and drives, golf links, etc. 
A company is being formed to erect a handsome hotel on a desirable 
location commanding a fine view of McKinley and its adjacent orange 
grove tracts. The co-operation of the leading American and Cuban 
physicians will be secured insuring a desirable and permanent patron- 
age from the United States and Cuba. 

As fast as the Plaza, Parkways and Streets are cleared and graded 
they will be planted with double rows of royal palms and cocoanut 

55 



ORANGES 

Oranges : Ninety trees to the acre ; yield fourth year from 
planting; average crop when in full bearing, ten boxes per tree; 
average cost delivered in New York, $1.67^ per box; average 
wholesale price over six months, $2.85; average profit, $1.18^ 
per box or $1,066.50 per acre. 

Our Estimate for the Tenth Year: Ninety trees to the acre; 
average yield, seven boxes per tree or 630 boxes per acre ; average 
profit, $1.00 per box; total profit, $630 per acre a year. 
****** 

Extract from the United States Government Report on the 
Isle of Pines: 

"Oranges: This fruit of commerce in fine varieties grows 
abundantly both cultivated and wild." 

And again : 

"Among the various American enterprises may be mentioned 
* * * oran ge growing and truck gardening for United States 
markets." 

Extract from a letter dated December 9, 1901, from Hon. M. 
E. Gillette, ex-Mayor of Tampa, Fla., an experienced orange 
grower : 

Oranges at 4 years. 100 boxes per acre or ij4 boxes per tree 
" 15 " 1,000 " " " 15 

yt c a it it it „ tt it it 

Grapefruit 4 200 3 

" 15 " 1,500 " " " 20 " " " 

Extract from Tampa "Tribune," February 27, 1903 : 

"W. C. Bentley has made good money from his grapefruit 
this season. From 100 trees seven years old he gathered 1,200 
boxes, which sold at an average price of $4.00 per box." 

Extract from an article in "Country Life in America," (Feb- 
ruary, 1903) by Herbert J. Webber, expert U. S. Department of 
Agriculture, and Charles Frederick Holder: 

"Don Louis Wolfskill realized some seasons $1,000 per acre 
for seedlings, and his last crop was $25,000 for twenty-eight acres. 

"Mr. D. B. Wilson realized nearly $1,800 from a single acre 
at San Gabriel, two miles from Pasadena, where single trees 
netted $60 to $70. 

"Sales of navels and fancy oranges at such localities as River- 
side have far exceeded this, the results being phenomenal. * *" 



56 



w Q 
p> H 

IS 
B H 




"* * * titles in Cuba are easily traced and are, if anything, more secure than 
in the United States." — C. M. Pepper, in To-morrow in Cuba. 

palms on their borders which, in four years, will have attained a con- 
siderable height and will add much to the tropic beauty of the town. 

Schools and Churches. When there are fifty American children 
of school age in the Colony, the Company will build and furnish a 
school house on the Plaza, the citizens to provide a teacher. 

A church will be built and deeded to the religious denomination 
receiving the largest number of votes when the Colony has a popula- 
tion of 500 Americans, and a second church will be built when there 
are 1,000 American residents at McKinley. 

The Plantation Tracts which adjoin McKinley and the orange 
grove property vary in size from the fractional part of an acre up to 
ten acres, according to the way the survey runs. Each tract is num- 
bered on the map and its area indicated, if it be less than ten acres. 
Every tract is reached by a forty foot road. 

These tracts include first-class coffee, cotton, fruit, vegetable 
and tobacco lands and, in short, all the various fruits and products 
of the Isle of Pines can be grown on them. 

There is an abundance of good yellow pine building timber on 
many of these properties which will belong to their owners under our 
plan of allotment. On the other hand, some of them are cleared and 
ready for the plough. 

We guarantee absolutely that not an acre of the land we allot 
is swampy, marshy or sterile. Every acre of it is guaranteed to be 
fertile and productive. No stony mountain tops or muddy bottom 
lands will go to any of our purchasers. 

Finally, the Company is in a position to pass a full warranty deed, 
free and clear of all incumbrances, to any piece of property it offers 
to allot, and the services of its officers and executive staff are always 
at the command of prospective investors as to selection of land and 
transfer thereof. 

Validity of the Title of all tracts is guaranteed by the Tropical 
Development Company, and is further attested by the distinguished 
law firm of Runcie, Portuondo & Lamar, Cuba 58, Havana, Cuba, who 
examined the titles thoroughly. This firm are attorneys for the 
National Bank of Havana, and Major Runcie examined many titles 
for the Whitney-Van Home Syndicate (The Cuba Company), who 
have built the railroad which connects Havana and Santiago. We 
shall be pleased to furnish documentary evidence of the high stand- 
ing of Major Runcie and his associates upon request. 

We Cordially Invite all conservative, intelligent people to join 
us either as colonists or investors in our undertaking in the adjacent 
tropics and to participate in the great profits to be earned in the devel- 
opment of what is naturally one of the richest spots on earth. There 
are few localities to-day where such conditions exist, and none so near 

57 



"Fruits and vegetables of many varieties grow well in Cuba." — Governor-General 
Leonard Wood. 




PRESIDENT HAYES, OF THE TROPICAL DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, ON A TRACT OF 
WOODLAND IN THE ISLE OF PINES 

our markets. The era of golden opportunities in Southern California, 
for instance, is a thing of the past. Thirty years have elapsed since 
gallant old Judge North and his staunch-hearted band of settlers ran 
their first irrigation ditch through the arid mesas of San Bernardino 
County, thus making the orange industry of Riverside, California, an 
agricultural possibility and adding over $50,000,000 to the wealth of 
the Golden State, and to-day, the same lands which the old inhabi- 
tants of Los Angeles sold, with a chuckle, to "the tenderfoot from 
the East" at $3.50 per acre are now held at $500 per acre uncultivated 
and at from $1,000 to $2,000 per acre planted in oranges by the same 
"tenderfoot" or his followers. 

Very few settlers in Riverside came there with more than $1,000, 
yet in 1895 Bradstreet's rated Riverside at an average of $12,000 per 
family, a truly remarkable showing. 

The Opportunity for substantial, safe and highly profitable invest- 
ment is now offered by the Tropical Development Company to the 
actual settler as well as to the non-resident investor. But the excep- 
tional values and inducements which are offered at present cannot, 
in the nature of things, be long obtainable, and immediate investi- 
gation and prompt decision on the part of prospective buyers and 



58 



"Of some products two crops [a year] are grown." — U. S. Government Report on 
\he Isle of Pines. 

investors is urgently recommended. A perusal of this publication, 
which is but a compilation of facts succinctly stated, gathered from 
the reports of experts and from our own personal experience in 
the Isle of Pines, is earnestly requested and a cordial invitation is 
extended to all to write to us for additional facts, or, better still, to 
visit in person and see for yourself the wonderful resources of this 
gem of the Caribbean, the fair and fertile Isle of Pines. 

OUR WORKING PRESIDENT AND OTHER OFFICERS 

Every Officer of the Tropical Development Company is active. 
There are no figure-heads, no "dummies" and no drones connected 
with the organization. There isn't room for them. 

The Executive Work of the Company is not only planned by its 
officers and directors but it is, furthermore, carried out by them. Sub- 
ordinates in the various departments of the business are employed in 
every instance absolutely under the immediate supervision of the 
officer in charge of them. Actual personal inspection of the details 
of the business from the Company's officers is required by the 
Directors instead of the acceptance of verbal or written reports from 
employees as to what has been done. 

Mr. Horace P. Hayes, President of the Tropical Development 
Company, resides in the Isle of Pines where he has entire charge of 
the company's business. 

For the past thirty years Mr. Hayes has lived in Buffalo, N. Y. 
He needs no introduction to the people of this city where he is well 
and widely known, but for the information of those who are not 
acquainted with him it may be said that he is numbered among 
Buffalo's most substantial citizens. As sole owner of three drug 
stores in Buffalo and an officer of the Buffalo Wholesale Drug Com- 
pany and as President of the Hayes Automobile Company, Mr. Hayes 
is justly regarded as a successful business man. 

Reared on a farm and familiar with agriculture from his youth, 
Mr. Hayes has turned his early training to good account in the develop- 
ment of the beautiful estate he owns on the lake front near Buffalo 
known as the Atholmere Farms. Twelve years ago when Mr. Hayes 
bought this property it was simply a tract of half-cleared, poorly 
cultivated Erie county farm land without a house on it. To-day, with 
its handsome residence, extensive barns and stables and up-to-date 
improvements, its herd of superb registered Guernsey cattle and its 
other blooded live-stock, the Atholmere Farms is a model estate in 
every sense of the word. 

Furthermore, the property has not only paid for itself but yields 
a handsome yearly profit to its owner, thanks to the shrewd common 
sense, industry and sound business methods employed in its manage- 

59 



"It" (the Republic of Cuba) "is among the most fertile lands in the world." — Com- 
mercial Cuba in 1903, U. S. Government. 




A PALM-BORDERED STREET IN THE ISLE OF PINES 

ment. From hay to honey everything produced is of the best. The 
wheat, oats and corn raised at Atholmere are sold as seed to neighbor- 
ing farmers at much higher prices than the market rates by reason 
of their superior quality, while the live-stock are prize-winners at 
every county fair at which they have been exhibited. 

In the Isle of Pines the work of developing the large orange and 
grape-fruit groves, coffee finca and nurseries of the Tropical Develop- 
ment Company is the task to which Mr. Hayes is devoting himself. 
The laying out of the site of McKinley and its adjoining plantation 
tracts, the clearing of the Plaza, Boulevards, Avenues and Streets of 
this new American town, the planting of ornamental tropical trees 
and plants in the grass plots and in the botanical garden is being 
supervised, managed and directed by Mr. Hayes in person assisted 
by an expert Florida orange and grape-fruit grower and a practical 
licensed civil engineer with the necessary working force. 

The Tropical Development Company considers itself fortunate in 

60 



"A ten-acre orange grove, once in bearing, gives a comfortable income, sufficient to 
support a family." — Governor General Allen. 

having a gentleman who combines the experience of a successful 
business man and horticulturist as its President. 

THE BUSINESS END OF OUR ENTERPRISE 

Oranges and Grapefruit, of all the products raised in the Isle of 
Pines, are the most attractive to cultivate, combining large profits 
with safety of investment and permanency of income. 

"Fortunes In Fruit In the Isle of Pines," the separate booklet 
which we send, contains all the information which any investor could 
want about the orange growing industry and the profits it pays as 
well as facts about winter vegetables, coffee, cotton and other crops. 

We Mail This Book free for the asking:, and would be glad to 
send it to you so that you can form your own conclusions on the merits 
of our enterprise. 

The Facts and Figures which we quote herein are all taken from 
the book "Fortunes in Fruit" and as we have not the space in this 
prospectus to go into details, we shall give results only herein. 

The Advantages of the Isle of Pines over California and Florida 
may be enumerated briefly as follows : 

In California the profits of the orange growers are diminished by : 

Expensive artificial irrigation. 

Expensive methods of frost protection. 

Frequent losses of fruit and trees from frost. 

Expensive fertilizers to enrich the soil. 

Heavy freight rates (by rail) to eastern markets. 

Fourteen days' haul to New York. 

In the Isle of Pines the orange grower enjoys : 

Copious but not excessive rainfall. 

Rains well distributed throughout the year. 

Absolute freedom from frost. 

Naturally fertile soil. 

Freight rate forty-eight cents less per box than California. 

Four days by steamer to New York. 

The Isle of Pines grower can lay his fruit down in New York, 
Philadelphia, etc., duty paid, for thirty-nine cents per box less than 
it costs the California grower, so that the California fruit cannot com- 
pete with the Isle of Pines product, the quality of our fruit being fully 
equal, if not superior, to the best raised in California. 

The Yield of an orange tree in the Isle of Pines is one box the 
fourth year after planting. This yield increases at the rate of one 
box a year till the tree is yielding seven boxes or more, when ten years 
old. It continues to bear at this rate for from fifty to one hundred 
years. The number of oranges in a box varies with their size, 126 
oranges to the box being a good popular size. 

61 



"It's a fine day — for walruses and polar bears." — Buffalo Enquirer, Feb. 18, 1904. 
COMPARATIVE TEMPERATURE TABLES 



Orange Producing Section of Riverside, Cal., Huntington, Fla., and 

the Isle of Pines 

These tables show the highest and lowest temperatures for the 
month of December, 1902, in the orange producing regions of Cali- 
fornia and Florida, compared with the temperature for the same month 
on the Isle of Pines, from official reports of the United States Weather 
Bureau for California and Florida and from readings taken from a 
United States thermometer in the Isle of Pines, recorded by Dr. E. 
W. Kellogg, formerly of Hartford, Conn., and now residing in the 
Isle of Pines. 

Riverside, Cal. Huntington, Fla. Isle of Pines, 

day. maximum. minimum. maximum. minimum. maximum. minimum. 



I 


68 


*3 2 


83 


63 


86 


74 


2 


64 


*3° 


84 


67 


87 


74 


3 


67 


* 30 


85 


75 


86 


74 


4 


69 


-*27 


79 


68 


88 


76 


5 


70 


*3° 


64 


52 


81 


76 


6 


74 


33 


68 


44 


82 


74 


7 


81 


35 


74 


76 


82 


76 


8 


84 


35 


67 


48 


78 


72 


9 


75 


37 


68 


40 


80 


76 


10 


62 


42 


80 


4i 


81 


72 


11 


62 


50 


81 


44 


80 


74 


12 


54 


45 


7i 


78 


83 


72 


13 


62 


44 


81 


53 


85 


76 


H 


61 


35 


78 


62 


85 • 


76 


15 


61 


*27 


79 


56 


82 


75 


16 


56 


*2 9 


81 


58 


83 


74 


17 


54 


38 


69 


49 


83 


74 


18 


56 


39 


7i 


39 


80 


' 72 


19 


60 


* 3 o 


76 


38 


79 


70 


20 


66 


33 


77 


66 


80 


7i 


21 


69 


*3i 


83 


54 


80 


70 


22 


73 


*32 


74 


57 


80 


65 


23 


76 


36 


62 


42 


75 


65 


24 


77 


37 


65 


40 


7i 


65 


25 


82 


37 


66 


35 


70 


64 


26 


74 


37 


57 


39 


72 


69 


27 


56 


38 


48 


*25 


73 


60 


28 


64 


35 


63 


*26 


72 


58 


29 


64 


*3 l 


78 


35 


78 


67 


3° 


67 


*3 2 


73 


40 


7& 


7^ 


3 1 


66 


*26. 


72 


43 


82 


72 




2074 


1073 


2257 


1493 


2203 


2480 


Average 50 47-62 60 15-31 75 32-62 


Note: The average temperature for December in California was 


fifty degrees (dropping the fraction). It was ten degrees warmer in 


Florida and twenty-five degrees warmer in the Isle of Pines. 


THERE H 


ASNEV 


ERBEE 


N A FRC 


ST IN T 


HEISLI 


: OF PINES 



*TheBe were days when the thermometer registered a freezing temperature or lower 

62 



"A gloriovts and beautiful , sunset daily, a climate so uniformly soft and mild, fruit 
so delicious and abundant, flowers so plentiful and ever blooming, that it is almost akin 
to what has been described of Fairv-land." — Ballon in Cuba Past and Present. 




AFTER THE GREAT FLORIDA FREEZE OF 1894-5 

THE SPEAR GROVE AT SANFORD, FLA. NOTE THE GROUND COVERED WITH 

FROZEN ORANGES FALLEN FROM THE DEAD TREES. 




FROST PROTECTION IN FLORIDA 

EACH TREE COVERED WITH A BOARD SHED 7 FEET HIGH, ILLUSTRATING THE 

DIFFICULTIES AGAINST WHICH THE FLORIDA GROWER CONTENDS. 

AN ENORMOUS EXPENSE, AND PROBLEMATICAL RETURNS. 

The Profits on a box of Isle of Pines oranges sold in New York, 
etc.. are $1.18^2 based on an average selling price over six months of 
$2.86 and a cost of $1,671*4. We estimate our profit at $1.00 per box. 
Grapefruit pays twice as much, but we figure our profits at $1.00 
per box on this fruit as well. 

The Above figures are conservative and easily verified. For full 
details see the book entitled "Fortunes In Fruit In the Isle of Pines." 

63 



COFFEE 

Coffee: 750 trees to the acre; yield, two pounds of coffee 
per tree or 1,500 pounds per acre in the fifth year after planting, 
unless nursery plants are set out thereby insuring an earlier crop ; 
cost, delivered in Havana, five cents per pound; wholesale price 
in Havana, fifteen cents to twenty cents per pound; profit, ten 
cents to fifteen cents per pound or $150 to $225 per acre. 

Extract from "Commercial Cuba in 1903," published by the 
U. S. Department of Commerce and Labor: 

"The soil and climate of the Republic of Cuba are admirably 
suitable for the production of large crops of the best coffee. This 
fact is proved by the historical records. While for many years 
recently the Cubans have not raised enough coffee for their home 
consumption, for about thirty years in the first part of the Nine- 
teenth Century it was one of their leading industries, and the 
amount annually exported on an average was 15,000,000 pounds. 

"What has been done before can be done again. 

"The soil and climate are the same now as a hundred years 
ago. 

"The coffee now produced in the Island has the same fine 
flavor that it had then. 

"The industry will doubtless be one of the first to be revived 
in the near future. * * * 

"There were 1,600 coffee plantations in Cuba in 1846, whereas 
now there are less than 200. 

"It is a tempting industry for the Cuban farmer. 

"Though the coffee tree requires almost as much solicitous 
care as the tobacco plant, it is a pleasant crop to raise, and, if 
successful, is very remunerative, as the trees yield tVo crops a 
year, and thrive best in the shade, so that coffee planters can 
plant their little coffee trees in among the larger trees of a fruit 
orchard, and thus get a crop of coffee and a crop of fruit simul- 
taneously from one and the same field." 

****** 

Extract from the Report of Frank Steinhart, Consul General 
at Havana, U. S. Consular Reports, August, 1903 : 

"* * * It is hoped that this industry will soon be of great 
benefit to the Island, and a sufficiently large crop for home con- 
sumption be gathered." 



64 




FROM XCEHLER'S MEDICINAL-PFLANZE* 

251 



COFFEE 



"Cuba is the richest country in the world." — Sir William C. Van Home, President 
of the Cuba Company. 




A BACHELORS HOME IN THE ISLE OF PINES WHOSE OWNER RAISED A FINE 
TOBACCO CROP THIS YEAR. HE FORMERLY LIVED IN CINCINNATI, 0. 

H. A. Nichols, Author of "Tropical Agriculture," says: "In the 
West Indies from 3,000 to 8,000 oranges are not uncommonly gathered 
from single trees. As many as 14,000 have been taken off of large 
trees, and 8,000 is a common yield in these fertile Islands." 

"Florida Fruits and How to Grow Them" says : "As much as $600 
per acre net profit has been made from full bearing orchards." 

J. R. Dobbin an orange grower of San Gabriel, Cal., is quoted by 
the Southern California Bureau of Information as having sold $2,000 
worth of fruit from 130 Late Valencia orange trees or over $1,200 per 
acre. 

Hence we feel our estimated results of an average of only three 
boxes per tree during the first six years of bearing sold at $1.00 
profit per box are very modest and conservative especially in view 
of our superb soil and great climatic advantages. 

THE TERMS OF OUR BOND ISSUE 

The Tropical Development Company is incorporated under the 
laws of the State of New York and registered under the laws of the 
Republic of Cuba, with an authorized capital of $100,000. No stock 
is for sale. There is no preferred stock. There are no debts. 

65 



"Its products are many, varied and important — some of them very important and 
almost -all of them easily produced." — Commercial Cuba in 1903, U. S. Government. 




RUNNING THE SURVEY LINE AMID THE PALMS AND PINES OF THE TROPICAL 
DEVELOPMENT COMPANY'S MC KINLEY TRACT 

A Bond Issue amounting to $500,000 has been authorized by the 
Board of Directors for the purpose of establishing the orange and 
grapefruit grove and the town of McKinley on the 5,200 acre tract 
herein described. The bonds so issued are known as Profit Sharing 
Gold Bonds of a denomination of $100 each, properly registered, and 
run for ten years from date. They are secured by a Warranty Deed 
and Declaration of Trust conveying the Orange Grove Tract of 500 
acres, together with all improvements thereon, to the Fidelity Trust 
Company of Buffalo, N. Y. 

This Trust Agreement provides that the Fidelity Trust Company 
of Buffalo shall hold title to the Orange Grove Tract for ten years. 
The property so held cannot be sold, mortgaged or disposed of in any 
way until the terms of the Bonds are satisfied, thus affording absolute 
security to the Bondholders under all circumstances. 

The Bonds Guarantee that the Tropical Development Company 
will clear the entire Orange Grove Tract and plant the 500 acres thereof 
with orange and grapefruit trees, setting ninety trees on each acre, 
making a total of 45,000 trees so planted. Approved methods of plant- 
ing are to be used, the trees to be budded to selected varieties of orange 
and grapefruit. The Company agrees to cultivate and care for the 
grove until it comes into bearing, keeping it free from undergrowth 

66 



"The Cubans will make good citizens and investments there are safe."- 
C. Van Home, President of the Cuba Company. 



-Sir William 




A GROVE OF THREE-YEAR-OLD BUDDED ORANGE TREES THAT BEARS THIS YEAR. 
SET OUT IN APRIL, igOI ; PHOTOGRAPHED IN DECEMBER, 190,3- 

and replacing any trees that may not thrive during this period. 
After the grove comes in bearing in the fourth year, the Company 
will continue to manage it and is to receive ten per cent, for its 
supervision from the net proceeds from the sale of fruit up to the 
tenth year. 

All Profits from the sale of fruit after the grove comes in bearing, 
less the expenses, are to be divided proportionately among the Bond- 
holders as profits on their Bonds. Thus these Bonds are not limited 
to four or five per cent, as is usually the case, but their holders will 
receive the entire net proceeds of the grove less the above ten per cent., 
making them very desirable securities. 

At the End of Ten Years, that is to say, on McKinley Day, 
January 29, 1914, the Tropical Development Company, under the pro- 
visions of the deed of trust, will sell the orange grove at public auction 
in tracts of five acres each to the highest bidders and divide the pro- 
ceeds among the Bondholders. As the grove will then be in full bearing 
it will bring $1,000 or more per acre (the usual price of California 
groves at this age), which will redeem all the bonds at their face value 
of $100 each. Each Bondholder will thus receive besides the profits 
paid on the Bonds from the earnings of the grove to the tenth year, and 
the free gift of land as explained hereafter, the full return of his original 

67 



JAMES MILLS Jtrwriox of the peace 

ATTORNEY - AT - LAW WTliiBna judicial to w nsuip 

NOTARY POBLIO 
ROOM 0. LORINQ BLOCK 



Riverside. Cal, June 23rd, 1902. 
Mr. J. C. Tichenor, 

Globe Publishing Co. , New York. 
Dear Sir: - 

My friend, Mr. Tracey, of Lewis and Tracey, Los Angeles, has 
forwarded me your letter of June 13th, in wnioh you ask him for information 
regarding orange groves. I beg to answer your questions as follows. 
Good orange lands, well located, with a good water right in this vicinity, 
is worth from three to five hundred dollars per acre. An orange grove 
one year old with choice budded stock one or two years old when set, in 
a desirable location, with good water right and first class land, would 
cost you now about $6,000 for ten acres. Trees just now are worth 
from a dollar to a dollar and a quarter per tree, and a thousand and 
more are set to the ten acres. An orange grove of ten acres, five 
years old, will cost you from ten to fifteen thousand dollars, according 
to location. One eight years old, set to Navels or Late Valencias, in 
a good location with good water right, would cost you from fourteen to 
twenty thousand dollars, according to the condition of the land and the 
healthy, vigorous, fruit producing state of the trees. I have in mind 
one just now which is seven years old and which last year paid ten per 
cent, on twenty thousand dollars, and it is held at twenty thousand 
dollars. I sold one myself four years ago when it was six years old, 
at fifteen thousand dollars. It has produced, in these four years, 
sixteen thousand dollars worth of fruit. It could not be bought to-day 
for less than twenty thousand dollars and possibly not at that figure. 
These lands are in Riverside and are on the best tracts for orange 
growing in California. I have thirty-one acres myself which is not for 
sale, just now, at least. 

Any information I may be able to give you, I shall be 
pleased to do so. 



Yours truly 




68 



"The question of what he [the Cuban farmer] shall grow may be decided by the 
planter himself, who will find himself limited solely by the size of the property he owns." — 
Collier's Weekly. 

investment, with a handsome additional profit, provided he purchased 
his Bonds while selling at a discount. If the Bondholders so elect, 
they can, of course, organize a stock company, exchanging their bonds 
for an equal amount of stock, elect their own directors and continue a 
very profitable investment by managing the grove for themselves. 

A VERY CONSERVATIVE ESTIMATE 

Profits on our Bonds should commence to be paid our Bond- 
holders in the fourth year by which time the grove will be in bearing. 
Earnings will be payabjle semi-annually in January and Jul}' and 
checks for same will be mailed promptly. 

i Twenty Per Cent, a year is a very conservative estimate of the 
average yearly profit to our Bondholders on the Par Value of their 
Bonds, calculated as follows : 

$45,000 
90,000 
135,000 
180,000 
225,000 
270,000 
315,000 



Fourth year, 45,000 trees; yield one box — $1 per tree. . . . 
Fifth year, 45,000 trees ; yield, two boxes — $2 per tree. . . 
Sixth year, 45,000 trees; yield, three boxes — $3 per tree. 
Seventh year, 45,000 trees ; yield, four boxes — $4 per tree. 
Eighth year, 45,000 trees; yield, five boxes — $5 per tree. 
Ninth year, 45,000 trees; yield, six boxes — $6 per tree. . . 
Tenth year, 45,000 trees; yield, seven boxes — $7 per tree. 



Total yield in ten years $1,260,000 

Former U. S. Consul Hyatt, speaking of the yield of an orange tree 
says : 

"An orange tree begins to bear the third year and yields from 1,000 
to 10,000 oranges annually." 

The Cuban Census Report (1901) says: 

"Oranges will grow everywhere and are unrivaled in flavor and 
delicacy." 

Ex-Mayor M. E. Gillette, of Tampa, Fla., says : 

"Orange trees four years old yield one and one-half boxes per 
tree. At fifteen years they yield fifteen boxes." 

Country Life in America (Feb. 1903), says: 

"The orange and lemon crop amounted in 1901 in California to 
seven million, five hundred thousand boxes, estimated at $1.00 per box 
to the producer or seven million, five hundred thousand dollars for 
the crop." 

TWENTY PER CENT. A YEAR PROFIT 

Now, if the yield per tree should average only three boxes at a 
yearlv profit of $1.00 per box, the total yearly average would amount 

69 



CACAO (COCOA or CHOCOLATE) 

Cacao (Cocoa or Chocolate) : 180 trees per acre begin to 
bear five years after planting ; average yield, six pounds of dried 
beans per tree or 1,080 pounds per acre ; average wholesale price 
in the Isle of Pines, ten cents per pound or $108 per acre profit. 



Extract from "Commercial Cuba in 1903," published by the 
U. S. Department of Commerce and Labor, August, 1903 : 

"Allied with coffee in mind though not in nature's classifi- 
cation, is cocoa, which is another article of consumption produced 
in considerable quantities in Cuba, though not by any means as 
freely as before the war. 

"The cocca bean grows well in Cuban soil, and yields cocoa 
of good quality." 

* * * * * -s 

Extract from the Report on the "Physiography of the Isle of 
Pines," by C. Willard Hayes, U. S. Geological Survey: 

"Much of the Island would doubtless produce fruits, as well 
as cocoa, which latter is one of the most profitable of crops grown 
in the tropics." 



Extract from "Fortunes- in Fruit and Other Products in the 
Isle of Pines :" 

"As cocoa trees require shade, they are raised between the 
rows of banana plants, thereby enabling the planter to get a 
double return from his land." 



Extract from American Colonial Handbook: 

"Over 4,000,000 pounds of cocoa beans were exported" (from 
Cuba) "in 1896." 



70 








FKOM KCEHLER'S r,F3IC1NAL-PFLAN2EN. 

424 



COCOA FRUIT- 



CHICAGO: 

. W. MUMFOHD I'UOUSHEh 



''The Cuban banana is the largest and finest received in the United States." — Ameri- 
can Colonial Handbook. 

to $135,000. Deducting $35,000 a year for expenses (after the grove 
begins to bear) and the balance left will be $100,000 a year or enough 
to pay Twenty Per Cent. (20%) on $500,000, the total par value of the 
Bond issue. 

HOW TO PURCHASE BONDS 

The Profit Sharing Gold Bonds of the Tropical Development Com- 
pany are now offered for sale in lots to suit purchasers. A bonus of 
plantation acreage or town lots at McKinley is given free with each 
Bond at present. 

Payments for Bonds may be made in annual installments without 
interest over four years, or a discount of Ten Per Cent. (10%) will be 
allowed for cash. Monthly, quarterly, or semi-annual payments will 
also be accepted in advance. 

In case of the death of a purchaser on the installment payment 
plan after one annual payment has been made, the Company will, 
upon proof of death of the purchaser and without any further pay- 
ment issue all of the Bonds and deed for land contracted for to the 
legal representatives of the purchaser, provided the purchaser has filed 
a physician's certificate of good health with the Company, and is not 
over sixty years of age at the time of date of the Contract for Bonds. 

Thus the Contract for Bonds issued by the Tropical Develop- 
ment Company is equal to a Life Insurance Policy as far as protec- 
tion to the purchaser is concerned, and far superior to any Insur- 
ance Policy ever issued for profits on the money invested. 

Sixty Days will be allowed on payments on request and in case 
of inability of the purchaser to complete his payments the Contract 
may be transferred to another purchaser by application to the Com- 
pany, or the Company will issue Bonds and deed for the amount paid 
in at the prevailing purchase price as provided in the Contract. 

The purchaser may at any time, within two years from date of 
purchase, pay all the installments not yet due and shall be allowed a 
discount of Ten Per Cent, on the payments thus made. 

An Inspector shall be elected once each year by majority vote 
of the Bondholders and by those who are paying for their Bonds on 
the installment payment plan. This Inspector shall visit McKinley, 
Isle of Pines, and report upon the condition of the Orange and Grape- 
fruit Groves, etc., and a copy of his report shall be mailed to every 
Bondholder and installment purchaser. The expenses of these annual 
trips and the printing and mailing of the report shall be paid by the 
Company. 

For Current Prices of Bonds which are subject to advance see 
accompanying "Profits From a Twelve Bond Purchase." 

71 







72 



"For sure, large and permanent returns, nothing equals a well managed tropical plan- 
tation." — Sir Thomas Upton. 

FREE LAND WITH OUR BONDS 

Our Grove of Five Hundred Acres, when brought into bearing, 
will not only be a great money maker for our Bondholders, but its 
successful development will greatly increase the value of the adjacent 
plantation tracts of McKinley and of the residence and business lots 
as well. This is so plain that it needs no explanation. 

We Want Our Bondholders to share in this profit, too. We want 
you to feel that you will not only get a liberal rate of interest on your 
Bonds yearly and the certain return of every dollar invested at the 
end of ten years, but we want you to help us build a city at McKinley. 

We know the best way to do this is to get you to own land there. 
Even if it is only a couple of residence lots we want you to have a 
deed for a piece of property in the new American Colony of McKinley, 
Isle of Pines. 

We Shall Give, therefore, absolutely free and clear, without extra 
cost to our Bondholders, the following lands and lots at McKinley: 

One Thousand, Five Hundred Acres of rich, fertile, orange, grape- 
fruit, coffee, cotton, pineapple, tobacco and vegetable lands, surveyed 
and staked out as Plantation Tracts (see our Maps) — positively the 
choicest agricultural lands in the Isle of Pines. 

Three Hundred Superb Business Lots (See Map), average size 
50x150 feet, including Twenty-One Plaza Lots, 52^x150 feet, in the 
heart of this growing community, and 

Six Hundred Magnificent Residence Lots, surrounding the busi- 
ness blocks fronting on the palm-bordered Boulevards, Avenues and 
Streets of McKinley in the land of fruit, flowers, sunshine and wealth 
where you can have a winter home or camping resort or a permanent 
place of residence the year around. 

NO IMPOSSIBLE CONDITIONS TO OUR OFFER 

We Make This Offer in absolute good faith and we mean every 
word of it. Titles are perfect and carry our written guarantee. We 
make no charge for registering Deeds or for Legal Fees. You can 
choose your Plantation Tract or Town Lot yourself, excepting those 
that are marked off on our maps which are already allotted. As soon 
as the tracts and lots now offered Free are taken, the Company will 
sell for cash or dispose of the balance of its property at a good profit. 

You don't have to go to McKinley to live and you don't have to 
improve your land or lots there under this offer. Of course, we would 
like you to do both but we don't require it. 

The only restrictions apply to lots on the Plaza. If you select 
any of them we expect you to improve them, as explained herein. 
This is for the good of all. 

73 



"Fortunately for them" (the Cuban people) "their land is a goodly heritage. 
Commercial Cuba in 1903, U. S. Government. 




TEMPORARY RESIDENCE OF AN AMERICAN, HALF HIDDEN IN A LUXURIANT 
GROWTH OF TROPICAL SHRUBBERY 

Until Further Notice you can get a full Warranty Deed, duly 
registered according to Cuban and American laws, absolutely free 
with our Profit Sharing Gold Bonds on the following 

BASIS OF FREE LAND ALLOTMENT. 

One Acre of rich, fertile Plantation Land, free with One Bond. 
One Business Lot, 50 or 52^x150 feet, free with One Bond. 
Two Residence or House Lots, 50x150 feet, free with One Bond. 



THIS OFFER IS GOOD FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY 

Prompt Decision and immediate selection of lands and lots is abso- 
lutely necessary and we urge you for your own good to avoid dis- 
appointment by making your choice at once if you wish to share in 
this great allotment of land. 

We Cannot keep this offer open always as the Plantation Tracts 
and Lots we have to dispose of are limited in number. 

We Reserve the right to withdraw this offer at any time, or to 
increase the price of our Gold Bonds or reduce the amount of land and 
lots given with each Bond. 

74 



"In four years we have imported $42,000,000 worth of cattle." — El Economista 
(Newspaper), Havana, 1903. 



&£■ 




THE ISLE OF PINES HOME OF A WEALTHY NEW YORKER. LAND CLEARED AND 
READY FOR PLANTING IN ORANGE TREES. 

This is Our First Offer and it is of course our Best in every respect. 

We Shall Soon dispose of the 1,500 acres and 900 lots which we 
now offer free to-day to advertise McKinley and then this proposition 
will certainly be changed, even if it is not withdrawn before. 

Bear in Mind that Each Bond gets the choice of one acre of rich 
orange, coffee, cotton, tobacco, pineapple, banana or vegetable land 
near our large orange and grapefruit grove, town-site, etc.. or One 
Business Lot or Two Residence Lots which are free to you at present. 

You Can Buy as many Bonds as you wish up to 100 and take 
part of your land bonus in plantation acreage and part in town lots, as 
vou please. We will not sell more than 100 Bonds to any one buyer, 
however, as we want our lands, lots and Bonds held among a great 
many different investors. 

The More Persons we have interested with us owning lots and 
plantation tracts at McKinley and drawing an income from the Bonds, 
the more people there will be talking about McKinley and the faster 
it will grow. This is fact. 

VALUE OF OUR LANDS 

We Value our Plantation Tracts at $100 per acre to-day, and our 
Residence and Business Lots at $50 and $100 apiece. We expect to 

75 



LEMONS 

Extract from "Fortunes In Fruit and Other Products of the 
Isle of Pines:" 

"Lemons, which are one of the most important fruits of the 
citrus family, flourish side by side with the orange and grapefruit 
tree and yield abundantly. 

"The soil of the Isle of Pines appears to be perfectly adapted 
to the production of a lemon possessing a high percentage of 
acidity, the wild limes which grow everywhere in the greatest 
profusion being extremely tart and acid to the taste and full of 
juice. 

"The United States Year Book of the Department of Agri- 
culture gives the value of lemon imports for the year 1897 at 
$4,025,354.49. 

"California lemon groves produce net returns of $200 to $300 
per acre." 



f6 



m M 

fo 

V 



° 5 




"The average cost of cultivating an acre of wheat in the United States is about $12. 
An acre of bananas can be cultivated at the same cost with a yield of 144 times greater 
than wheat." — New York Herald. 




COMBINATION OF AMERICAN AND CUBAN ARCHITECTURE — A FRAME HOUSE 
AND A TILED ROOF 



sell our Reserved Tracts and Lots at these figures (or more) when 
our present offer expires. 

We expect that many of those accepting our free gift of land will 
improve their properties by planting them in orange and grapefruit 
groves, etc. Others will go down to live at McKinley and do the 
work themselves. Hence, with hundreds of people owning lands at 
McKinley it is evident that values there will increase rapidly. 

We now value a forty acre plantation tract at $4,000, a twenty acre 
one at $2,000 and a ten acre tract at $1,000. 

You can get one of the above free with an equal number of our 
Profit Sharing Gold Bonds to-day. 

The moment you get a deed for it, it is worth more than the 
amount you paid for your Bonds and when your Bonds are redeemed 
it will in our opinion be worth $200 per acre even if you don't improve 
it, while if planted, it will increase ten for one. 

House Lots and Business Lots which we value ( to-day at $50 and 
$100 each will be worth double the money in four years. 

These statements are based on common sense and fact and our 
reasons for making them will explain this at a glance. 

77 




H « 
H 



78 



"Other varieties [of marble] of different hues are suitable for ornamentation and art, 
as they take an excellent polish." — U. S. Government Report on the Isle of Pines. 

THE FIVE HUNDRED ACRE ORANGE AND GRAPEFRUIT 

GROVE 

. . This immense grove of 45,000 trees, one of the largest bodies of 
citrus fruit trees in the world, will be the most important and influ- 
ential factor in increasing land-values at McKinley. It will be the 
best proof on earth of the fertility of the soil. 

We shall plant and cultivate this grove with the sole object of 
making it a large and steady dividend payer. 

Paying the Bondholders an average of twenty per cent, a year 
beginning with the fourth year, which will be a yield of only three 
boxes of fruit per tree on 45,000 trees, sold at $1 profit per box (see 
estimate) the grove will certainly be worth the average California 
price of $1,000 per acre or $500,000. 

Now, when the grove pays these profits and is sold or valued at 
the prices quoted, would not the adjacent plantation tracts of proven 
orange land be worth at least $200 an acre uncultivated ? 

Dry uncultivated orange lands in California are sold at from 
$250 to $500 per acre every day. 

And wouldn't the lots in McKinley in the centre of this great 
citrus fruit industry in one of the most famous and fertile fruit regions 
and health resorts in the world be worth $50 and $100 each? 

What would you take for yours? 

This is positively the fairest and most liberal real estate and invest- 
ment proposition ever made. You get a Bond secured by a developed 
orange grove which we are establishing and besides we give you as a 
bonus a Deed to choice agricultural or city property whose value is 
increasing every day. Surely, nothing could be fairer. 

Furthermore, we give you the chance to buy your Bonds while 
they are selling at considerably less than par, so that you will make 
money off of their advance in price. They will be worth double their 
present price long before the grove is in bearing. 

Finally, we allow you four years in which to pay for your Bonds 
and will hold your lots or plantation tract for you until the Bonds 
are paid for ; or, if you pay cash down, you will be allowed Ten Per 
Cent. Discount and get your Bonds and Deeds at once. 

HOW THE COMPANY WILL MAKE MONEY 

The Tropical Development Company has invested thousands of 
dollars in buying its lands, surveying and improving them and start- 
ing its nursery of 50,000 young orange and grapefruit trees at 
McKinley. 

The Company will make money from the sale of its reserved lands, 
from its hotel, saw-mill, cotton-gin, coffee mill, cigar and canning 

79 



"About 112 estates on th< 
eminent Report on the Isle of Pines. 



and are mostly devoted to tobacco raising." — U. S. Gov- 




TOBACCO FROM WHICH THE FINEST CIGARS ARE MADE. ISLE OF PINES TOBACCO 
BRINGS THE HIGHEST PRICE IN THE HAVANA MARKET. 

factories and brick kiln and from tbe various other enterprises it will 
establish. 

Every new Bondholder adds wealth to the whole enterprise from 
the fact that he assists in its development. The Company Will give 
such assistance that nearly all will undoubtedly improve their town 
and business lots by building on them and also cultivate their planta- 
tion tracts, thereby increasing the value of all adjacent properties — 
yours as well as ours. 

TO INVESTORS ONLY 

The Profit Sharing Gold Bonds of this Company are a splendid 
investment for anyone, no matter whether the purchaser ever goes to 
McKinley or not. 

The Entire Profits from the Five Hundred Acre Grove will be 
divided among the Bondholders as earnings every six months after the 
grove comes into bearing so that you can share in the returns from 
the undertaking without going down there at all. 

At the end of ten years, you will receive your share from the sale 
of the large grove which will undoubtedly return to you the money 
invested (and more) by redeeming your Bonds at their Par Value 
of $100 each. 

80 



"Cocoanuts are considered excellent for invalids in the Bahamas, and some visitors 
drink the milk from twelve or fifteen cocoanuts daily." — NewYork Tribune, March 6, 1904. 




A BED ROOM IN AN AMERICAN HOTEL, NUEVA GERONA, ISLE OF PINES 

Meantime, you can sell your land or rent it for cash or on shares 
and still have your Bonds left. Thousands of people in this country 
or already on the Island would be glad of the chance to work your 
plantation tract on shares. We will help you to get such a tenant or 
partner because we want every acre of land at McKinley planted and 
in bearing. 

Thus you can get a double return on your money. 

Doctors, Lawyers, Business Men, Teachers, Mechanics — anyone, 
in fact, with a few hundred dollars to invest, will find the Bonds and 
free Deeds to McKinley property a sure, safe, profitable security 
although they may never see the Isle of Pines. 



FOR WINTER VISITORS 

Even if you don't want to go to McKinley to practice your pro- 
fession or engage in business, you would, no doubt, like to go down 
for two or three months in winter. 

The Scenery, climate and surroundings are charming and as a 
winter and health resort it far surpasses Florida or California. Thou- 
sands of Americans visit this region every winter and it is fast becom- 
ing the Riviera of America. 

81 



COCOANUTS 

Cocoanuts: 200 trees to the acre; yield, 100 nuts per tree 
or 20,000 nuts per acre beginning in the fifth year after planting; 
wholesale price in the Isle of Pines, $7 to $15 per thousand. 

Our Estimate : 200 trees yielding 20,000 nuts per acre ; whole- 
sale price, $7 per thousand ; total profit, $140 per acre. 



Extract from the U. S. Government Report on the Isle of 
Pines : 

"* * * cocoanuts yield abundantly though few trees have 
been planted. 

"This could easily become an article of export." 

And again (page 29) : 

"Cocoanut. — Fruits in bunches of from twelve to twenty on a 
tree from sixty to ninety feet high. ' 

"The nut when fresh contains nearly one quart of milk, very 
much esteemed by the natives as a refreshment. 

"The thick rind or husk surrounding the nut is used in mak- 
ing cordage, matting, brushes, bags, etc. 

"A valuable oil is obtained from the nut which is well-known 
to commerce." 



82 




4* 



^r#'t J*J 



232 Butter-nut. 

Edible pine. 
Cross section Black Walnut. 



Butter-nut in husk. 
Black Walnut. 

copvbishi 1300, ar *. w. humfohd. chicaso. 



"California is 2,300 miles further away from the eastern markets, with high rail 
freights, which will always handicap her so she can never compete with Cuba."- — 
The Orange Grove of the Americas. 

When Snows, sleet and blizzards hold this country in their icy 
grip, McKinley, with its orange blossoms, birds, flowers, sunshine and 
blue sky is a picture of summer, a paradise for those seeking to escape 
coughs, colds, bronchitis, pneumonia, catarrh, consumption and rheu- 
matism which are so prevalent here. 

Living is Cheap and tent life comfortable at all seasons — far more 
so than in Canada or the Adirondacks in summer. You could occupy 
your own lot in McKinley or your plantation tract, and you could 
make your stay profitable as well as pleasant by starting your grove 
of orange or grapefruit trees which we would continue to cultivate 
for you. 

Board at the McKinley Inn will cost $10 a week and upwards, 
if you didn't want to live on your property, or good board at reason- 
able rates could be obtained at private houses. 



FOR COLONISTS AND SETTLERS 

You who are, perhaps, a good mechanic, or working in a store or 
factory, or on a farm for simply a bare living, can go to McKinley and 
in five years be independent and in ten years rich, and you don't need 
a fortune to start with. 

If you haven't enough to pay all cash down for your investment, 
save a few dollars each month. You can pay on installments if you 
wish. 

Stop Working for other people. Join us and become an inde- 
pendent citizen of this sturdy American Colony in the Isle of Pines. 
You can take possession of your property at once and be working for 
yourself instead of toiling for a mere existence day in and day out. 

This is no gambling speculation. There is no oil well to go dry, 
no gold vein to prove worthless about it. It's better than any Klon- 
dike. Only one out of a thousand strikes it rich there, while 999 out 
of every 1000 can succeed at McKinley, Isle of Pines, and if that one 
doesn't, it's his own fault. Nature has done her part lavishly, it only 
remains for you to do yours. 

Your Investment will be represented by a Profit Sharing Gold 
Bond and a Deed to Land which costs you nothing. We believe it 
is the duty of every man and woman to own some real estate. 

An investment at McKinley, Isle of Pines, will be a blessing for 
the younger members of the family — the children. It will give them 
a start in life that may be their fortune. Many great fortunes of this 
country have been based on real estate. It is the safest investment 
known. 

83 




DETAILED VIEW OF COCOANUT TREE. IN THE ISLE OF PINES THE COCOANUT FLOURISHES., 

ATTAINING IMMENSE SIZE AND PRODUCING ABUNDANTLY THE YEAR ROUND, 

AFFORDING A MEANS OF CONTINUAL INCOME WITH MINIMUM OF CARE. 

(From the Cuba Bulletin.) 
84 



"Tobacco raised in an orange grove in Cuba always brings a better price than tobacco 
raised in the open field." — Otto Carl Butterwerck, Farmers' Bulletin 82, U. S. Agricul- 
tural Department. 

HOW YOU CAN MAKE MONEY AT McKINLEY 

One must not expect to make a fortune in a day in the Isle of 
Pines. Fortunes don't come that way. If you are willing to work 
half as hard there, as you do here, you can make money faster than 
you ever could in this country. It is a land of opportunities, — an El 
Dorado for a young man, a haven of refuge for an old one with a few 
hundred dollars to start with. 

The Amount of your investment must be dependent, of course, on 
how much you can afford to pay either in cash or installments. We 
would advise you to get at least one business lot and two residence 
lots taking the rest of your land bonus in plantation acreage. 

Now, suppose you wish to buy, say, twelve Bonds which at their 
present price (see Price List of Bonds) would make a moderate invest- 
ment. By going down to McKinley as a settler you can work your 
land yourself and soon be making a good living from it. 

With your twelve Bonds you will get a Warranty Deed for the 
following property: 

With one Bond you get one Business Lot, 50x150 feet, free. 

With one Bond you get two Residence Lots, 50x150 feet, each, 
free. 

With ten Bonds you get ten Acres of fertile plantation land, free. 

You can raise enough on your Residence Lots to furnish your- 
self and family with all the vegetables, corn, beans, chickens, hogs, etc., 
you will need, getting your first crop of vegetables from six to twelve 
weeks after planting. 

PROFITS OF A TEN ACRE TRACT CULTIVATED 
BETWEEN THE ROWS OF TREES 

(See the booklet "Fortunes in Fruit and Other Products in the 
Isle of Pines.") 

You can start your orange and grapefruit grove, coffee or cocoa 
plantation on your Ten Acre Tract at once and, in the meantime, cul- 
tivate the land between the rows of young trees without injuring their 
growth at all. From the quick-growing crops which flourish in the 
Isle of Pines select and plant any which you decide the best on the 
basis indicated below. 

Note. If citrus trees are planted, only about half the total area 
can be cultivated in quick growing crops as their roots must be 
allowed to spread out. Bananas can be planted on nearly the full ten 
acres but only grown among coffee or cocoa trees as they do not 
flourish on citrus fruit soil so well. 

85 



"The health of our army in Cuba is better than the health of our army in the 
United States or in any of the new possessions of the United States." — Governor- 
General Leonard Wood. 




LAND PLOUGHED FOR THE CULTIVATION OF QUICK-GROWING CROPS BETWEEN 
ROWS OF ORANGE TREES 

Ten Acres of Bananas (255 bunches per acre) $1,020 

Five Acres of Sea Island Cotton (one bale per acre) 500 

Five Acres of Tobacco (13^4 bales per acre) ( net ) J ,875 

Five Acres of Pineapples (8,000 apples per acre) 1.250 

Five Acres of Early Potatoes (December and January, forty 

barrels per acre) ( net ) 1,186 

Five Acres of Other Vegetables (December and January,) 240 

crates per acre $2,700 to 3,900 

Thus your ten acre plantation, if properly cultivated in any of 
the above products which are easily raised, will pay you enough to 
live on and to meet the payments on your land to boot. Fifty hives 
of bees with careful management would bring you in $500 a year 
from wax and honey and poultry could be made to increase your 
income. 

These are all quick-growing, ready money crops and the returns 
quoted are Net, all expenses of crating, barrelling, transportation, etc., 
being deducted and the prices received being the wholesale market 
figures. The cost of cultivation (plowing, planting and harvesting 
crops) has not been deducted (except in the case of potatoes and 
tobacco). 

86 



"I just wanted to sit down on a ten-acre tract within sight of the river, sea and moun- 
tains, surrounded by stately royal palms, bananas, oranges and mango groves, and stop 
for the rest of my natural life." — Professor T. C. Hailes, Albany, N. Y. 




TENT OF AN AMERICAN PIONEER — AS COMFORTABLE IN THIS MILD CLIMATE 

AS A HOUSE 

Your Ten Acre Grove of orange and grapefruit trees will yield 
you a profit the fourth year of $1.00 per box or $900, (90 trees— 90 
boxes, $90X10 acres=:$900.) 

When your grove comes into full bearing it will pay you from 
$2,700 to $5,000 a year for life and will be worth $10,000 cash any 
day you wanted to sell it and it will be yours ! 

A HOME IN THE ISLE OF PINES 

An Opportunity like this comes but once in a life time. 

Anyone can have a home in the Isle of Pines under our most 
liberal colonization plan. 

The way is now open to you. It only remains for you to grasp 
the opportunity now offered. 

All the comforts of civilization, all the luxuries, beauty and fruit- 
fulness of the tropics can be had at your plantation. Anything that 
will grow in any frostless region on earth will grow there. 

For $50 you can build a native style house, with a board floor 
good enough to begin with, or you can live in a tent or portable house 
till you get started. Lumber is cheap and before long you can have 
a neat frame cottage. 

87 



"Cuba is now free from yellow fever and has been so for a considerable period." 
-Governor-General Leonard Wood. 




A FIELD OF LONG STAPLE SEA ISLAND COTTON, DECEMBER 
CROP HAD BEEN PICKED 



1903, AFTER A 



There are lots of neighbors, American settlers there already who 
will give you a hearty welcome. 

The early settlers of Tennessee, Kentucky and the Western Re- 
serve of Ohio had far more difficulties to surmount than you will 
have in the Isle of Pines. 

The settlers who go to Canada and the West to-day are far less 
fortunate than you will be in the Isle of Pines. 

You can live the year around practically in the open air. 

No enormous coal bills. 

No heavy overcoats or expensive clothing. No frosts, snows, sleet 
or blizzards. 

A balmy, sunny, breezy climate. A life amid fruits and flowers. 
An easy happy contented existence. 

A competency that knows no want. 

CULTIVATION OF LANDS FOR NON-RESIDENT OWNERS 

The Tropical Development Company is prepared to make con- 
tracts for the purpose of cultivating the lands of those who cannot 
go to the Isle of Pines to live or to plant their orange or grapefruit 

groves or coffee plantations themselves, and for taking care of such 
properties in the absence of the owners. 

88 



L.ofC. 



* * * " a quality" (of coffee) "as excellent as that of the famous Blue Moun- 
tain coffee of Jamaica is grown." — Robert T. Hill, U. S. Geological Survey. 










wfc mm - 



J*'*'! 1 



InifeJK . Mw. 



1 p ') ■'.» 



A FOREST OF YELLOW PINES FROM WHICH ORANGE BOXES ARE MADE 

Our Facilities for this work are of the best, as we have had to 
make heavy expenditures anyhow for perfecting the equipment of 
our working force and the purchase of the necessary oxen, mules, etc., 
all of which are at our disposal without interfering with work on the 
Manigua Groves. 

Our Directors and Stockholders are having tracts of ten acres or 
more each, planted for them, the Company doing the pioneer work in 
converting these properties into model estates. 

The Advantages Afforded by this system enable those who could 
not take the time from their business or professional duties, to acquire 
their lands and pay for the same while the work thereon progresses. 
It is also possible for those of moderate means to own an orange 
grove or coffee plantation under this system without putting any large 
amount of money and no time at all in the undertaking. 

Furthermore this proposition affords the Colonists and settlers 
at McKinley the opportunity of employment during such time as 
they have to spare from their own work. 

After Developing your private coffee plantation, orange or grape- 
fruit grove, the Company will continue to care for it and harvest 
and market your crops for Ten Per Cent. (10%) of the net profits 
therefrom. 

Cultivation Contracts, prices, terms, etc., will be sent on request 
together with suggestions as to crops to be planted, etc. Write for 
additional information. 

89 



EGG-PLANT 

Extract from "Fortunes in Fruit and Other Products in the 
Isle of Pines :" 

"Egg-Plant grow to 26}^ inches in circumference in the Isle 
of Pines and can be gathered and shipped in January, when they 
are worth (wholesale) from $4.00 to $7.00 per crate, or eight cents 
to fourteen cents each. 

"The average wholesale price for egg-plant in January, Feb- 
ruary, March and April in New York is $4.58 per crate. 

"At a price of only $4 per crate, a cost of $1.25 and a yield of 
only 240 crates per acre the planter makes $660 per acre." 



Extract from the Report of Frank Steinhart, Consul General 
at Havana, U. S. Consular Reports, August, 1903 : 

"Exports to the United States of tomatoes, potatoes, onions, 
peppers, egg-plant, okra, etc., show a notable increase. * * * 

"The vegetables, however, found ready sale in the United 
States to the amount of $100,000." (Cuban export value.) 



90 



"Banana culture and fruit raising are industries of great possibilities." — Victor S. 
Clark, Ph. D., U. S. Government Report. 

CONTRACTING AND BUILDING DEPARTMENT 

We are also prepared to furnish quotations and plans for con- 
struction work of all kinds, including Business Blocks and Residences 
at McKinley. 

Our Architects have made a study of designing plans for the most 
suitable private dwellings in this climate and for blending the beau- 
tiful native hardwoods and marbles into the most artistic and pleas- 
ing effects for villas, bungalows, cottages or colonial residences. 

Correspondence on this subject is solicited. Prices reasonable, 
and workmanship the best. 

GRAND EXCURSION AND LAND SALE 

It is the intention of the Company at a very early date to run 
a grand excursion to McKinley and hold an important sale of our 
Reserved Lands and Town Lots thus affording our Bondholders and 
their friends the opportunity of visiting McKinley at actual cost. 

It is our purpose to arrange for the entire passenger accommoda- 
tions of a regular steamer or charter a special boat for the trip, thereby 
securing special rates for our settlers and investors. 

WHAT IT COSTS TO VISIT THE ISLE OF PINES 

The regular rates of fare which include three meals daily, berth 
in a stateroom and the usual allowance of baggage are : 

New York to the Isle of Pines by Ward Line (pier foot of Wall 
Street) via Havana and (rail) Batabano and steamer to the Isle of 
Pines : 

First Class — One way, $52.60; round trip, $95.20. 

Intermediate — One way, $29.30 ; round trip, $58.60. 

New York to the Isle of Pines by Munson Line (pier 14 East 
River adjoining Wall Street ferry) via Havana and (rail) Batabano 
and steamer to the Isle of Pines : 

First Class — One way, $37.60; round trip, $75.20. 

Second Class — One way, $18.30; round trip, $36.60. 

New Orleans to the Isle of Pines by Southern Pacific (Morgan 
Steamship Line) pier at Algiers (ferry) opposite New Orleans via 
Havana and (rail) Batabano and steamer to the Isle of Pines : 

First Cabin — One way, $27.60 ; round trip, $50.20. 

Second Cabin — One way, $19.30; round trip, $38.60. 

Steerage — One way, $14.30 ; round trip, $28.60. 

The rates of fare from Villaneuva Station, Havana, by rail to 
Batabano (Sunday and Thursday) and new fast steamer, "J. J. Camp- 
bell," to the Isle of Pines, which are included in the above rates are 
as follows : 

91 




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3 H 

in w 



a 



a 



a 



o 



« H 



92 



"Cuba is now a very healthy country." — Governor-General Leonard Wood. 

First Class — Adults, $7.60; Children, $3.90. 

Second Class — Adults, $4.30; Children, $2.75. 

All rates are subject to change. Write for additional information. 

BONDS WITHOUT LAND AND LAND WITHOUT BONDS 

The Company will not sell any of its Bonds or Lands separately 
for the present, but, if any of our prospective colonists wish to buy 
land from other non-resident investors, we shall be glad to secure 
property for them. Correspondence is invited from those wishing to- 
buy Bonds or Lands separately of other Bondholders. 

SELLING YOUR PRODUCTS 

The Company will either buy your crops outright or act as agents 
for all plantation owners for the sale of oranges, grapefruit, pineapples, 
tobacco, cotton, coffee, early vegetables, etc., raised at McKinley. We 
will obtain the highest market prices for your shipments thus enabling 
you to market them to the best advantage. 

The dompany also purposes establishing its own cigar factory,, 
canning factory, etc., to handle locally the products of the colony. 

FREE TEMPORARY ACCOMMODATIONS FOR SETTLERS 

The Company is building a comfortable Guest House where 
settlers can stay without cost until they have prepared suitable accom- 
modations for themselves on their properties. Each individual party 
or family will furnish their own bedding, meals and cooking utensils,, 
or Table Board can be had at the Company's Hotel, or with private 
families at moderate rates. 

STORE AND COMMISSARY 

The Company is establishing a well-stocked general store carry- 
ing a full line of Groceries, Hardware, Agricultural Implements, 
Tools, Vehicles, Clothing, Drugs, Furniture, etc., for the convenience 
of settlers. 

As the primary object of the Company in establishing this store 
is to accommodate the residents of McKinley, its stock will not only 
be carefully selected with a view to the needs of its customers, but 
the prices charged will be the very lowest possible. 

QUICK PROFITS FROM SIDE CROPS 

The Company intends if it is possible to secure a double profit 
for its Bondholders from the Five Hundred Acre Orange and Grape- 

93 



"* * * prior to 1830 coffee was its principal source of wealth, yielding as much 
as 100,000,000 pounds annually, worth $18,000,000." — Consul General Steinhart, of Cuba, 
U. S. Consular Reports. 




AN AMERICAN PIONEER S HOME IN THE ISLE OF PINES. IN THIS BALMY, 
BREEZY CLIMATE HOUSE BUILDING IS AN EASY PROBLEM 

fruit Groves by planting and cultivating the land between the rows 
of trees while they are small in such profitable and quick growing 
crops as pineapples, tobacco, early vegetables, cotton, etc. 

Ninety Per Cent, of the net profits from these crops will be paid 
to the Bond Purchasers thus assuring early returns on money invested 
even before the groves are in bearing. 

EXCHANGE OF LAND 

Pick out your lots and plantation tract to-day while you still have 
a choice of the best locations. 

Read our guarantees as to quality of land, fertility, etc., but 
remember that if you select your property now and are not satisfied 
with it when you see it for any reason, we will cheerfully exchange 
it for another tract which will be satisfactory. We want every body 
satisfied with land allotted. 



ABSOLUTELY NO RISK 

We think we have shown you that you take absolutely no risk- 
when you invest with us. You secure land worth as much to-day as 

94 



"I took 195 Pounds of box honey from the parent, and 114 pounds from' the swarm, 
or 309 pounds fom the old colony in the spring all toW -Gleanings from Bee Culture. 




LANDING OF THE FIRST PARTY OF AMERICAN SETTLERS— THE 

THE ISLE OF PINES 



MAYFLOWER COLONY 



you pay for our Bonds and it will double in value when the Big 
Orange and Grapefruit Groves come into bearing, even if it doesn't 
before. Your Bonds will pay you well and if you choose you can be 
independent for life, spending your winters at your plantation in the 
Isle of Pines and your summers in the North. 

LOSS IS IMPOSSIBLE 

Any man or woman can invest in our Profit Sharing Gold Bonds 
and feel sure that loss is impossible. 

Land values in Cuba and the Isle of Pines are just beginning to 
boom, still there have been phenomenal increases in values. Land 
has increased 1,200 per cent, in five years in the neighborhood of the 
American settlements. 

Capt. L. U. Baker and his associates in the Cuba Fruit Company 
bought thousands of acres at $8 to $10 per acre four years ago in 
Santiago Province. They refuse $100 per acre for their unimproved 
tracts to-day. One thousand per cent, increase ! 

You have the chance to do the same thing— make your money 
off of fruit-growing and land. 

The millionaires of the next twenty years will come from this 

region. 



"The pineapple crop of 1903 is valued at $1,500,000, and the orange and lemon 
crops will also show a great increase this year and from now on, as large numbers 
of trees planted during the past three years are now bearing fruit," — Consul-General 
Steinhart, of Cuba, U. S. Consular Reports. 

Lay the foundation of your fortune in a section endorsed by such 
eminent Americans as the late President McKinley, Gen. Fitzhugh 
Lee, Gen. Leonard Wood, Hon. Robert P. Porter, Rev. Dr. MacArthur, 
the late Jay Gould, Senator Proctor, U. S. Consul Hyatt, Robert T. 
Lee, U. S. Geological Surveyor, U. S. Consul General Steinhart of 
Cuba, and every prominent public man and newspaper in this country. 

Every dollar you invest there will be working for you side by side 
with the money of the millionaires of America including such men as 
Sir William Van Home, builder of the Canadian Pacific Railway ; Hon. 
William C. Whitney, former Secretary of the Navy ; Hon. Levi P. 
Morton, former Governor of New York ; Stuyvesant Fish, President 
Illinois Central R. R. ; E. J. Berwynd and G. G. Haven, Trustees 
Mutual Life Insurance Co. ; Widener and Elkins, the Philadelphia 
Street Railway owners ; T. Jefferson Coolidge and Henry M. Whitney, 
the Boston capitalists and a thousand less prominent bankers, finan- 
ciers and investors. 

These are the men who are making the adjacent tropics a safe 
and profitable field for investment. 

A few dollars saved monthly or a few hundred in cash will start 
you on the road to an independent income for life. 

A ten acre plantation is worth a hundred acre northern farm. 

Large or small though the investment be, it makes no difference 
— the results will be proportionate to your holdings, one Bond and a 
couple of house lots will double in value as quickly as fifty Bonds and 
their bonus of land. 

Don't delay but fill out the application for Bonds and Land which 
accompanies this publication and mail it to us to-day with the amount 
of your payment. 

Bonds and Deeds for Free Lots and Plantations are now ready 
for delivery. 




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